


Two Halves Make a Whole

by Mincci



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Bill Cipher/Dipper Pines Fluff, Bill and Dipper are the same age, Bill and Dipper are too cute, Bill is a protective brother, Bill protects our smol child, BillDip, Child Bill Cipher, Child Will Cipher, Dipper gets bullied, Dipper only has one eye, Fluff, Human Bill Cipher, Human Will Cipher, Instead of the journal Dipper finds Bill, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Or just pick whatever age you want them to be, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reverse Bill Cipher, SO MUCH FLUFF, Ships ahoy, Small mentions of blood, So does Bill, Strong Language, Tad Strange is their adoptive father, This story begins during Tourist Trapped, Which is like 12, Will Needs a Hug, bill and will are twins, really small
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-07-23 18:48:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7475754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mincci/pseuds/Mincci
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They say two halves make a whole. In Dipper's case, this phrase fits his relationship perfectly. </p><p>After a car accident resulting in the death of their parents, and a permanent eye injury to Dipper, Mabel and Dipper Pines move to small town Gravity Falls with their great uncle Stan, who takes over as their guardian. Dipper attempts to adjust to his new life, but with no friends and only one eye, he finds it rather hard. Bullies tease him everywhere, and all Dipper wants is to find someone who understands. Life grants that wish in the form of a blonde egotistical boy named Bill Cipher, who, much to Dipper's surprise, also only has one eye. After a fateful encounter in the woods, the two start to connect and become friends. All they need now is a little love!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to Gravity Falls

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, Mincci here! So this fanfiction was inspired by an idea I came up with, where Bill and Dipper both only have one eye. Dipper having no left eye and Bill having no right eye. I wanted to write something about Bill and Dipper getting through life together despite lacking two eyes.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls or any of the characters that belong to it. All of the characters AND the show belong to Alex Hirsch!

Dipper Pines had never been a normal kid growing up. While most of the children his age, including his twin sister, played with dolls and action figures, Dipper isolated himself in order to read books far beyond the reading levels of most kids in their grade. It could be said that he never truly had a friend. It was fine with him, because Mabel was the only friend he needed. At least, that's how it was before the accident. 

It was no one's fault, Dipper had come to terms with it. It was something that was simply inevitable, as much as Dipper hated to admit it. The event happened in the blink of an eye. No one in his family suspected a thing, but then again who would? What was originally supposed to be a fun family camping trip turned into a fatal car accident that resulted in the death of their parents and a permanent injury to the young boy.

Somehow, the accident resulted in him completely losing his left eye. The doctors told him he was lucky enough to be alive, but Dipper was just happy that his sister had made it out perfectly fine. As much as he hated the lack of two eyes, he would much rather it be him than Mabel. Of course, that doesn't mean that he wasn't upset by the whole ordeal. Losing both of their parents really took a toll on them, though Mabel insisted on staying strong for the both of them. It was a trait of hers that Dipper envied. She always seemed to be able to push aside the bad thoughts in favor of looking at the good things in life. But what good was there in this situation? Dipper didn't know. He wondered if he ever would.

Eventually it came to the decision that the twins would move to a small town called Gravity Falls with their great uncle Stan. It had been some time since they last saw him, and Mabel was grateful for the opportunity to spend time with the older man again. Dipper, however, was less than pleased.

Currently, the two were riding the bus to Gravity Falls. They were the only ones on there, aside from the bus driver, which made Dipper feel slightly more at ease. He preferred it this way, being alone with his sister, instead of dealing with a crowded space.

"Come on, Dipper! It won't be that bad!" Mabel elbowed her brother in the ribs, though gently, in fear of startling her weakened brother. Dipper hated it. He had always been the weaker one of the two, in addition to being more withdrawn, but he liked to think he had at least some form of confidence before the accident. Nowadays, it seemed as though he hardly had any, no matter how hard he tried to stay strong.

He ultimately decided to wrap a bandage around his wound in order to prevent scaring others, and to keep it safe from infection, but it did often cause others to raise questions about his missing eye. Their comments didn't surprise him so much now, but it always managed to leave him feeling empty inside, as though he were incomplete in society's eye. Pun unintended. Mabel noticed this when she saw her brother become more easily startled when people attempted to make conversation with him, and so she took it upon herself to calm him down whenever she felt it was needed. While Dipper appreciated her kindness, it only added salt to the wound for his pride.

"Yeah, right." The brunette grumbled, crossing his arms as he refused to look his sister in the eyes. "We're in a completely different environment, Mabel. Mom and dad aren't here anymore. How could you possibly expect me to fit in here?" Dipper would admit, he wasn't exactly loving the idea of living in such a small town. He was used to the big city, where everyone kept to themselves. Though from the looks of it, Gravity Falls appeared to be the kind of place where everyone knew each other. That meant that everyone would probably be sticking their noses into their personal business. Perfect. Just perfect. The last thing Dipper needed was even more people asking about his eye. Something he still remained sorely bitter about. It's hard not to be, when the kids of their old town started to bully him for his disability. Well, bully him even more, that is. 

They were everywhere, Dipper reasoned. The children would tease him for almost anything. His pathetically thin body, pale skin, his noodle arms, the constellation birthmark that rested on his forehead, his lonesome personality, there was always something to tease him about. His lack of a second eye was just something new to add to the list, he supposed.

"I know mom and dad aren't here anymore, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to be happy, Dipper." Mabel flashed him a small look of hurt. "You know they love us, right? Wouldn't they want us to try and be strong for them?" Her words struck Dipper. He instantly regretted his depressing attitude. Mabel was just trying to cheer him up, and he had no right to be so negative about it. He didn't want to drag her down with him in his self-pity. With a sigh, Dipper put his arms down in his lap and looked at the ground in guilt. 

"You're right. I'm sorry Mabel." he admitted truthfully. Much to his delight, Mabel's frown faded, only to turn into her usual happy grin.

"It's okay, Dip' Dot! Awkward sibling hug?" she held her arms out for him, hoping for the signature hug that they always gave each other during moments like these.

"Awkward sibling hug." Dipper nodded with a small smile of his own, and pulled her into a tight hug. 

"Pat, pat." The two laughed together, patting the other on the shoulder before tearing themselves away. 

Suddenly the bus came to a stop in front of a completely worn out wooden shack. The bus driver turned in his seat in order to look at the two. "Alright kids, this is your stop. Welcome to Gravity Falls!" he called out to them. Dipper and Mabel promptly grabbed their bags, and walked outside. The first sight that greeted them was a green scenery. The forest appeared to be mostly made up of pine trees, yet Dipper couldn't deny a strange feeling that hit them. Something about the forest seemed different then what he expected. It gave him an odd feeling, one that he wasn't too sure he liked.

He looked over to Mabel and opened his mouth. He was about to ask her if she felt the same ominous suspicion as him, but was immediately cut off by their Grunkle Stan.

"Kids!" the older man called out excitedly as he stepped down the old stairs, which creaked underneath his weight. Mabel's face instantly lit up at the sight of their relative, and she immediately rushed over to pull him into a bone-crushing hug. "Grunkle Stan!" Dipper and Mabel smiled at him, Dipper following closely behind his sister, albeit with less enthusiasm. 

"How was your ride here? Were there any cops following you?" he asked them with a raised eyebrow, much to their confusion. "No? Why would they be?" Dipper glanced into the elder man's eyes suspiciously. It was such an odd thing to ask someone upon arrival. Though his question was ignored, as Grunkle Stan simply shrugged it off, stating that he was just making sure, before Mabel stole his attention as the excited girl talked his ears off. Dipper for now wasn't too entirely sure if he believed his Grunkle was simply 'just asking', but he supposed it was something that could be looked into later.

"Alright, let's get you two settled in. Soos already got your rooms ready, so once you both unpack, you can come down stairs and start helping out around the shop." the older explained to them, leading them inside what he deemed as the Mystery Shack. The mention of them working for their Grunkle caused Dipper to speak up from his momentary silence. 

"Wait, what? You actually expect us to work here?! We're only 12!" he screeched, much to Stan's amusement, as the older man let out a deep laughter. "Hah! Course you are, kid! What, you think finding employees are cheap? Haven't you ever heard of child labor?" 

"Isn't it kind of wrong to make us work though?" Dipper scowled and crossed his arms. Stan let out an irritated sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Look kid, trust me. Doing work around the shack will be a great way for the two of you to build some character and gain some sense of responsibility. You may hate it now, but sooner or later you'll come to thank me. Now let's go." 

Dipper highly doubted the idea of ever beginning to thank their great uncle for forcing them to work, but Mabel didn't seem to mind too much. As long as she was okay with it, then he supposed he could deal with it too. Without another word, he helped Mabel bring their stuff to their new room. If possible, his frown only remained at the sight. Two old twin beds rested on the opposite ends of the room, and in between them, there was a wooden table with a triangular window above it. Mabel rushed to one of the beds, and began jumping on it. 

"This room is amazing!" Mabel laughed, before running her hand across the wall. "Check out all of my splinters!" she held her hand up, which Dipper looked over to find that her hand had wood chips sticking out of them. He released a sigh that he didn't realize he was holding, before turning to his bed. He stopped in his tracks at the sight that greeted him. 

"...And there's a goat on my bed." he grumbled. The goat appeared to be chewing on the mattress, until Mabel ran up to him. "Hey there, friend!" She told the goat, almost as if she expected him to reply back to her. Instead of a verbal response, he moved his head towards her and began chomping on her sweater, causing Mabel to laugh. "Oh! Yes, you can keep chewing on my sweater!"

Dipper groaned at her enthusiasm, but Mabel took no offense. She knew her brother wasn't being serious by it. "Hey Mabel? I'm going to go change my bandage real quick, okay?" he held his hand up to the white wrappings that neatly tied itself around his wound. He hadn't had the chance to change it yet, which the doctor advised him to do so at least once or twice a day. Mabel nodded at her brother, and shooed him off to the bathroom, saying that he needed to hurry so they could meet the other employees that Stan had hired.

In all honesty, Dipper wasn't too keen on becoming friendly with many people. He was a loner by nature, though sometimes he would admit that it would be nice to have someone aside from his sister to talk to. The probability of finding anyone that would have the same interests as him were as low as the chance of Mabel sticking to only one guy crush. He laughed at the thought, knowing full well how his twin had already begun her boy-crazy phase. He noticed this when he saw her not-so casually flirting with multiple men over the end of their school year. Shaking his head, Dipper returned his attention back to the bandages. He reached a shaky hand over to the back of his head, slowly untying the knot. One by one, the bandages seemed to fall at a time, revealing a large gaping hole that had taken place of his eye.  
While originally disgusted by seeing this, Dipper eventually grew numb to the injury that permanently scarred his face. Though he often feels himself growing self-conscious about it. Mabel had done her best to make him feel as though nothing changed, which he greatly appreciated, but it only worked so much. 

A knock at the door turned him from his thoughts. "Hey kid, you almost ready in there?" The rough voice of Grunkle Stan came from behind the walls. 

"Just about!" Dipper told him, and returned to his task of replacing the bandage. It only took him a moment to put a new gauze around his eye, but he double checked to make sure that it was tight enough. Confirming that it wouldn't fall off, and that his accident was completely hidden from view, Dipper stepped outside to be greeted by his grunkle.

Grunkle Stan put a hand on Dipper's shoulder and guided him downstairs, where Mabel had already begun chatting with a larger man and a red-headed teen.  
"Wendy, Soos, this is my great nephew and niece, Dipper and Mabel. They'll be living here from now on, but that also means they'll be working here too. I expect you guys to keep an eye out on them, and help them when needed."

"Aye-Aye Mr. Pines!" Soos saluted Grunkle Stan with a determined look. One that showed he had no intentions of failing the older man.

Wendy, on the other hand, shrugged nonchalantly and turned her gaze to meet Dipper and Mabel's. "What up dudes?" her voice gave off an air of pure laziness, and Dipper could instantly tell that Wendy was the kind of person who appeared to be pretty chill about almost everything. 

The two of them seemed nice enough, and Dipper could feel a small smile tug at his lips. Maybe making friends here at the shack wouldn't be as hard as he thought.

"Whoa, dude, what happened to your eye?" Dipper's smile immediately fell at Soos' question. Was he already going to be picked on for his injury? He wasn't sure if he could handle it. At least not today. Not when so much happened in the past few hours. His gaze locked onto the floor as he rubbed his arm awkwardly. A nervous laughter escaped his lips, and his body trembled a bit on instinct. Wendy immediately caught onto this, and elbowed Soos, shaking her head at him to let him know that his question wasn't something to be randomly put out in the open like that.

Soos seemed to catch on, and immediately apologized. "Oh sorry dude, that was rude of me. Don't worry about answering that." He held his arms up, indicating that he meant no harm.  
Dipper relaxed at that, and nodded. "It's fine, Soos. Mabel and I were in a car accident some time ago. Our parents died..and that's why we're here. That's why my eye is like this." he sighed, feeling utterly helpless. Mabel seemed to notice and put her hand on Dipper's shoulder in hopes of offering any comfort.

Soos and Wendy frowned at Dipper's story, and reached down to pat Dipper and Mabel's shoulders. "We're sorry about that, dudes." Soos quietly told them. Wendy nodded her head in agreement, and looked at the two of them. "If you guys ever need to talk about it, we're totally here for you." she gave them a kind smile, one that the twins were instantly grateful for.

Grunkle Stan let out a soft hum of agreement. He may be a bit of a rough person, but he did care about his family with all of his heart. He had made a promise to himself that he would do everything in his powers to keep the two kids as safe and happy as they could be.

Not expecting to have so much comfort from everyone, Dipper felt yet another soft smile form on his lips. 'Maybe Mabel was right,' Dipper thought to himself, 'things might just turn out okay.'


	2. A Fateful Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper Pines gets sent out into the woods in order to hang up signs that will help guide tourists to the Mystery Shack, much to his disappointment. He feels as though there's something weird with the forest, but no one will listen to him. All he wants is a friend.  
> And so a friend he shall have!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay everyone, this is where Bill Cipher makes his first appearance!

It had only been about two weeks since Mabel and Dipper had moved into Gravity Falls. They weren't quite used to everything yet, but it would be a lie to say that they weren't making an effort to try. Mabel seemed to be having an easier time adjusting to their lifestyle than Dipper did. While Wendy and Soos were friendly enough, Dipper couldn't really see himself connecting with them as easily as Mabel did.

He had hoped that he would find at least someone other than his sister to talk to about his problems. It was nothing against Mabel. She was the best twin sister a boy could ask for, but sometimes Dipper felt the need to try and make some friends of his own. Aside from Grunkle Stan's employees, Mabel had already made a few friends to hang out with. A young, innocent girl by the name of Candy, and a strong, yet terribly blunt girl named Grenda. While they had only recently met, the three seemed to have a strong connection, making them best friends already. 

Dipper on the other hand was struggling to even hold a conversation with someone. Sure he had the occasional chat or two with Soos, and a few jokes here and there with Wendy, but aside from them, he wasn't exactly getting along with anyone else. Mostly because whatever customers had come into the shack were either too far apart from his age, or they seemed to have fun teasing him about his lack of two eyes while he was working. 

It seemed like this was going to be his life from now on. When he wasn't working, he was reading, and when he wasn't being bullied by the others, his Grunkle and sister were playfully teasing him.  
He knew they meant no harm by it, calling him a nerd, or picking out minor flaws in his personality, but it still left a small impact on him. Though he very rarely admitted it to them. When he did, they only seemed to shrug off his concerns and tell him to lighten up. 

"Alright, look alive people! I need someone to go out and hammer these signs into the spooky part of the forest!" the voice of his Grunkle Stan shook Dipper out of his thoughts. He looked over to see Stan holding a stack of cardboard arrowed signs that read 'Mystery Shack!'. 

"Not it!" Dipper called out, waving his hand in the air. Mabel's eyes widened as she realized what was going on, and immediately rose her hand up as well. "Not it!" she followed after her brother.  
"Uh, also not it!" Soos looked over from his spot on the ladder, pausing in his work.

Grunkle Stan frowned and looked at the bigger man. "Nobody asked you, Soos." he said rather bluntly.

"I know, and I'm comfortable with that." Soos shrugged before taking a bite out of a chocolate bar and returning back to work.

Grunkle Stan sighed and turned towards the counter, where Wendy was reading a magazine with her legs propped up on the counter. "Wendy! I need you to put up these signs!"

"I would, but I," she put her arm out in a false attempt to reach him, "can't reach it."

"I'd fire all of you if I could. Alright let's make it..." he turned and looked at the twins, "...eeny meeny miny..you!" Grunkle Stan decided, pointing at Dipper. His eye widened at this, and crossed his arms.

"Aw, what?! Grunkle Stan, whenever I'm in those woods, I feel like I'm being watched.." He quietly trailed off and shivered. It was true, he would occasionally step outside for a breath of cool air, but sometimes he would catch the occasional pair of eyes looking at him, studying him, before fading back into the darkness. He's tried telling Mabel this before, but she just shook his paranoia off, claiming that it was just him being stressed out.

"Not this again." Grunkle Stan sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose in irritation. Dipper frowned at this, but continued on. "I'm telling you, I feel like something weird is going on in this town. Just today my mosquito bites spelled out 'Beware'!" He pulled up the sleeve of his orange t-shirt and showed Grunkle Stan the marks.

"...Kid, that spells 'Bewarb'." Stan frowned at him, causing Dipper to look at the ground and shuffle his feet in embarrassment. 

"Quit being so paranoid. You need to get some sun on you anyways, you're paler than a ghost, kid." Stan grumbled and put the signs in Dipper's arm, much to the younger's disappointment. Dipper sighed and nodded. "Yes, Grunkle Stan.." He mumbled before heading off into the forest.

\----------------------------------

Outside, the wind kicked up as grey clouds settled into the horizon, signaling the coming of a storm. Dipper scowled and looked up at the sky. "Better make this quick.." 

Without another moment of hesitation, Dipper began his trek into the woods. Eventually coming across a sturdy pine tree, Dipper set the signs down and took out a nail and hammer. "Ugh..nobody ever believes what I say." Dipper complained to himself as he continued his work. It was one thing he seemed to have a constant problem with. Even before he moved to Gravity Falls, Dipper was used to both kids and adults ignoring him. He desperately wanted that to change. 

"Wanna bet, Pine tree?" A high pitch, yet masculine voice erupted from behind the pre-teen. Dipper gasped and looked back, only to find no one there. He frowned and scratched his head. "I thought...just now..?" He could have sworn he heard someone's voice. With a groan, Dipper rubbed at his arm, casting a quick glance to the forest floor. "Mabel's right. I am too paranoid.." He whispered before turning back around in order continue his work, but instead he felt himself collide into something.

Another gasp escaped Dipper's lips as he fell back to the ground. 'What the heck?!' He rubbed his head and looked up to see what he had bumped into. He expected it to be the tree, but instead his eye caught sight of a blonde boy, who appeared to be about his age. He was dressed almost entirely in yellow. His outfit consisted of a black dress shirt topped with a yellow vest that contained a bricked pattern near the bottom. Despite his interesting attire, Dipper felt himself become mostly drawn to the boy's face. 

The stranger, much to Dipper's surprise, had only one eye. In place of his right eye, there lied an eye patch. 

Dipper was stunned. Could this boy possibly..? His mouth was left hanging as he stared at the taller boy's slim figure. His golden orb looked into Dipper's chocolate brown one, and it was only then that Dipper had registered that the blonde was now talking to him.

"I'm sorry, what?" 

"Kid, I know I'm pretty attractive, but you should really pay attention when others are talking to you." The taller's words caused a Dipper's face to flush pure red. 

"I...I'm sorry?" Did he seriously call him a kid? They had to be the same age! Maybe a year or two age difference at least! And what was with that major ego he held?

"Name's Bill Cipher, Pine tree! I asked you what on Earth you're doing out here all alone."

Dipper furrowed his brows at the odd nickname. 

"Did you just call me a pine tree?" he questioned the blonde.

"Hey, I asked you a question first. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't manners still exist in this world?" the boy, Bill, frowned at him, but offered his hand to Dipper as an offering of help. Dipper, although wary of the new company, accepted the hand gratefully. 

"I'm putting up signs for the Mystery Shack." Dipper said quietly, as he glanced up at Bill's eye patch. 

"Alone? In weather like this? It could storm practically any minute."

Dipper scowled, not exactly liking how Bill was asking so many questions. "Oh yeah? Well what exactly are you doing here then? You're all alone too!" he balled his fists as he glared at the taller.  
Bill only laughed at his question, which confused Dipper greatly. What could possibly be so funny about this situation?

"You're cute. I like you, Pine tree."

Well, that was unexpected. Whatever anger Dipper had vanished instantly, as embarrassment took its place. He could feel his cheeks heat up at Bill's comment.

"Excuse me? I-I'm not cute! And my name's not Pine Tree either. It's Dipper. Dipper Pines."

"Wait, your name's Dipper? What, did your parents hate you or something?"

A flash of hurt formed in Dipper's eye at the memory of his deceased parents. His gaze tore from Bill's in order to look at the ground. Before he could think of what to say, Bill tilted his chin up and forced the other to look at him.

Dipper took notice of how Bill's smug grin changed into a more concerned frown, as he looked at Dipper in what seemed to be a more tenderly manner.

"Pine tree? You okay? I didn't say something to upset you, did I?" Dipper shook his hand, causing Bill's hand to retreat.

"No, well, I mean..not technically? It's just that my parents died a while ago."

Upon hearing Dipper's quiet whimper, Bill instantly felt guilty. He had no idea that Dipper had suffered so much, and yet here he was reminding him of such an awful memory. 'Way to be a jerk, Bill' Bill thought to himself and let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Bill apologized, which was rare for him, as he hardly ever felt guilty for anything. 

Dipper rubbed at his eye using his arm, and shook his head again, trying to tear himself from the negative thoughts. "It's fine..to answer your question, no they don't hate me. It's a nickname. See?" he brought his hand up and moved his bangs away from his forehead, revealing a perfect image of the Big Dipper.

Bill's golden orb scanned the birthmark that rested on Dipper's head. Huh. He never saw something like that before. It was weird, but Bill liked weird. 

"That's pretty cool. Were you born with it?" Dipper nodded to Bill's question.

"You really think it's cool?"

"Course I do, Pine tree! Don't make me repeat myself!" Bill huffed and crossed his arms, causing Dipper to let out a soft chuckle.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just, normally the other kids make fun of me for it. That and..." he shifted his feet before pointing at the bandages that covered his injury.

"...Wait, are you kidding me?" Realization suddenly dawned on Bill's face. "People actually bully you because you don't have two eyes?" He hissed out, balling his fist to try and soothe his growing anger.

Dipper sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I get bullied for a lot of things, but it hurts the most when they make fun of me for being incomplete."

"Incomplete? Dipper, you are never incomplete. Don't listen to what those assholes tell you. They don't know anything. The next time someone picks on you for it, let me know. I know how it feels." Bill shifted his hand to the eye patch that rested on his right eye.

"So...it's not just for looks, is it?" Dipper asked, causing Bill to shake his head.

"I lost my right eye in an accident on the playground...let's just say, it wasn't pretty. It's okay though, this eye patch just makes me look cooler." Bill said confidently. It seemed as though the whole ordeal didn't leave much of an impact on him. That was something Dipper was incredibly envious of.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Bill..erm.. I lost my left eye in a car accident. That's how my parents died too."

Bill hummed, and slung his arm around Dipper's shoulder. He laughed at the nervous squeak that erupted from the smaller boy from the action. "Don't worry about it. I'm sorry about what happened to you too, but hey, you know what? That just means we're the same!"

"The same?" Dipper tilted his head in confusion.

"Yep. We both only have one eye. How often do you come across someone with the same injury like that?"

Bill did have a point. While his twin sister and Grunkle Stan were always there for him when he needed it, they never truly understood what it was like for him. Bill on the other hand, seemed to understand him completely. That..was something Dipper could appreciate. Here someone stood before him. Someone his age, who hasn't made fun of him, and treated him like a normal person, despite his disability. 

"You're right. I never thought of it like that before."

"Course I'm right! I'm always right! Shame on you for doubting me, Pine tree. Lesson number one on being friends with Bill Cipher: Never doubt my intelligence!"

Dipper, who would normally be annoyed by such arrogance, only laughed at Bill's childish behavior. "Friends, huh?" Dipper liked the sound of it. He never had a friend aside from Mabel before. "I'd like that." he admitted truthfully. He couldn't help but smile when he saw Bill's face lit up.

Suddenly, a drop of rain fell on Dipper's nose, causing the brunette to look up at the sky. It seemed the rain had finally begun, as more droplets started to fall onto the two. It was light, but Dipper didn't exactly want to wait around for it to start pouring heavily on him.

"I should probably get back home. I was supposed to put these signs up, but I think Grunkle Stan will understand when I tell him that it was raining."

"I'll walk you back, Pine tree. It's not safe to be out in the woods all alone."

Dipper accepted the company greatly, and the two started to tread back to the Mystery Shack.

"If it's so dangerous, then why are you out here by yourself?"

"Well that's because I've been here all my life. I know these woods like the back of my hand!"

"But what were you doing?"

"Nothing much. I was monster hunting, of course."

At this, Dipper's brows furrowed. "Monster hunting?"

"Yep! Haven't you noticed how strange the forest is?" Dipper nodded his head. He did feel it occasionally. Like there was something more to this forest than people gave credit for.  
"Believe it or not, there are a lot of anomalies here. Things like gnomes, gremlobins, unicorns, manotaurs, and other monsters. I like to research them whenever I have the time." Bill was expecting Dipper to call him a liar, but instead the boy's eye widened in awe. "Really? There are things like that here?!" he asked excitedly. Bill chuckled at his enthusiasm. 

"Sure are, Pine tree! I can take you to see some, sometime if you want."

"I'd like that, a lot. Does that mean we'll see each other again?" Dipper looked over at Bill with a small smile.

Bill smirked at Dipper's question, and reached his hand out to grab hold of Dipper's own. 

"Aw, I'm touched Pine Tree. Would you really miss me that much?" 

Dipper couldn't fight back the blush that formed on his cheeks, and pouted at the blonde. "Please. Now you're just getting ahead of yourself." he commented, yet he made no effort to pull away from Bill's grasp. Instead, he found himself shifting closer to Bill, and intertwining their fingers in return. 

It was only a few minutes later when the Mystery Shack came into view. The two boys stepped out of the forest and when Bill brought Dipper to the stairs, they reluctantly tore their hands apart.  
"Guess I'll see ya around then, Pine tree!"

"Wait, don't you want to come inside? I mean, it is raining.." Dipper trailed off. Did he really want Bill to come inside? On one hand, he found himself really enjoying the other's company, but on the other hand, he was a bit worried that his family might drive him off with their craziness. Bill's laughter shook Dipper out of his thoughts, and he gazed into Bill's single golden orb. It was a beautiful color, Dipper reasoned. Something about Bill's eye held confidence, as well as ambition. It was something Dipper felt naturally drawn to.

"Nah, I should actually be heading home too." Dipper deflated at Bill's words, saddened at the thought of already saying goodbye to his first ever friend. Bill seemed to have caught his disappointment, and walked up to wrap his arms around Dipper's shoulders, effectively bringing the shorter into a hug. "Don't be sad, Pine tree. How about I come see you tomorrow?"

"Really?" Dipper bit his bottom lip, trying to hide the excitement that threatened to show itself.

"Yep! I'll come visit you tomorrow when I have the time. Maybe in the morning?"

The brunette nodded, and with a small smile, he hugged the blonde back. "I'll see you then. Don't be late!"

"Wouldn't dream of it." Bill pulled back to wink at him, or at least that's what Dipper had assumed he was doing. It was a bit hard to tell if it was actually a wink, or a blink, but something about Bill's personality made Dipper sure that he was winking at him. "See you later, Pine tree!" and with that, Bill had run off.

Not wanting to stay outside any longer, Dipper opened the door and walked back inside the Mystery Shack, only to be greeted by Mabel and Grunkle Stan.

"Dipper, there you are! What took you so long?" Mabel ran up to him and pulled her twin in a tight embrace. "We were worried sick about you!" She squeezed her brother tightly, not even noticing the chokes that Dipper was having. "M-Mabel! I can't breathe!" Dipper whined, which brought Mabel to reality. She instantly let her brother go with a quick apology.

Dipper took a deep breath when he felt her grip on him release. "Gosh Mabes..I wasn't gone THAT long. I was just hanging the signs like Grunkle Stan asked me to, when I met a friend-" His sentence was cut off by a loud squeak coming from his sister. 

"You made a friend?! Oh my gosh, bro bro! Who were they?! What are they like?"

Oh boy. Here it comes. Mabel's over-excited personality.

Dipper sighed, but continued. "Well..his name's Bill. Bill Cipher. He's really confident, actually no, strike that. He's actually really egotistical, but he means well. He walked me back to the mystery shack, and get this! He's just like me, Mabel!"

"How so?" Mabel furrowed her brows in confusion. 

"Well, he's really interested into the supernatural. He says there are a bunch of monsters in the woods! Not only that, but he's got a missing eye, just like me!"

At this, Mabel let out a rather loud squeal that made both Dipper and Grunkle Stan flinch.

"Ow! Mabel, my ears!" Dipper winced as his ear pounded from her outburst.

"Yeah kiddo, could you maybe tone down the excitement? My hearing's not what it used to be, but I certainly don't want to go deaf anytime soon."

"Grunkle Stan, why you ackin so cray cray?" Mabel pursed her lips at him, but she did agree to calm down.

"Sorry Dip' dot. I'm just so excited for you! I'm glad you made yourself a friend! When will we get to meet him?"

"Well, he said he's going to come over tomorrow-" Once again, he was cut off by another squeal from Mabel.

How she would react when it came time for Mabel to meet Bill tomorrow, Dipper wasn't entirely sure. He could only hope for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are Bill and Dipper going too fast? I want that instant attraction while still having it be at a moderate pace.


	3. Two Eyes, One Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper faces the humiliation of Bill seeing him in his pre-teen wolf boy costume. As if life didn't hate him enough, he also gets bullied! Poor Dipper. Well, Bill is there to protect him, so everything turns out okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dipper gets bullied in this chapter, and there's a small mention of blood.

The next day was starting out to be Hell for Dipper Pines. Well, more than usual, that is. He had been forced into an embarrassing outfit by his grunkle, in hopes of persuading customers that Dipper was in fact, a teen wolf boy. It was probably the most degrading thing he has ever done. Here he was, on stage, wearing furry pants that held a tail on the back, fake wolf ears, and to his dismay, no shirt. He felt practically naked, and he was about to "perform" for so many people! He hoped this horrible act would be over with soon, as he wasn't quite sure when Bill would be arriving. He silently prayed to whatever God was listening that he would be spared from any possibility of Bill seeing him in this outfit.

"Ladies and gentle-tourists!" Stan begun his first tour of the day. "Looking around my shack, you'll see many wondrous road-side attractions. Be astound, by the horrible, pre-teen wolf boy!" With his cue and the curtain being drawn from view, Dipper was revealed to the customers. His face flushed in embarrassment, and as he rubbed his arms, the tourists gasped in horror. As if the world didn't already hate him enough, Dipper's eye widened at the familiar sight of blonde hair in the crowd. 'Oh my God...you have GOT to be kidding me?!' Dipper inwardly groaned. He couldn't believe his luck. There, in the center of the crowd, stood the one and only Bill freaking Cipher.

Yep. Definitely not his day. Maybe he could pretend later that he was cleaning or something, and the "wolf boy" wasn't him. Maybe Bill would buy it? Or at least, respect him enough to go along with it.  
His thoughts were disrupted as Grunkle Stan continued on with the tour. 

"Look at him!" his grunkle screeched. "All that hair! His body is changing!"

The audience, minus Bill, seemed to buy the horribly fake disguise, and took numerous pictures of him. Bill on the other hand, only chuckled. Amused at how Dipper was forced into this act, when his discomfort was so clearly obvious.

Dipper, having enough of this horrible act, took out the fake fangs from his mouth and looked at Stan.

"Grunkle Stan..this is demeaning.." he trailed off. 'Please, please don't make me do this..' Dipper mentally pleaded.

Much to his disappointment, Stan had only turned his complaints into a joke that amused the audience.

"What? I don't know deMEANING of that word!" he laughed with the crowd. 

"If you throw money at him, he dances."

"WHAT?!" Dipper yelped, only to be pelted with all sorts of coins and dollar bills. Not wanting to be scolded by his grunkle, Dipper quickly performed a small dance, which seemed to satisfy the customers.  
"Alright everyone, if you'll follow me over here, I'll show you to the world's only known photo of a horse riding another horse!"

With that, everyone except for Bill followed after Grunkle Stan, cameras held high in anticipation for the next event. Dipper, finally being free from his act, let out a sigh of relief. He took off the fuzzy ears that rested on his head and threw them on the ground in embarrassment. "Stupid Stan..." He grumbled. He couldn't believe that his grunkle had actually forced him to do such a thing. Actually, yes he could. If money was involved, Grunkle Stan would put his nephew in practically any situation, no matter how unwilling Dipper was.

A deep chuckle shook Dipper from his thoughts, and he looked up to see Bill Cipher standing in front of him.

"Bill!" 

"Wow, Pine tree. I have to say, I wasn't exactly expecting to see something quite like this today. Is this what your great uncle always makes you do? If so, I should come by more often."

"Please don't do that!" Dipper groaned, slapping his hand against his forehead. "It's already horrible enough that I had to do this, but now that you saw, I don't think I have any dignity left."

"Aw come on, it wasn't that bad." Bill shrugged and waltzed over to his side, putting his arm around Dipper's shoulder. "Everyone thought you were a real werewolf...and hey, you DO make a really cute one." as if to prove his point, Bill pinched Dipper's cheek, causing the smaller to squirm.

"Please don't." Dipper groaned. He didn't bother to remove the arm around him, and instead, found himself surprisingly leaning into it. "I just want to forget that this whole thing ever happened." He pouted and crossed his arms. 

"Aw, don't feel down, Pine tree. Here, why don't you go change? When you're done, we can go exploring, just like I promised." 

That did make Dipper feel better. He could use a break from work, and maybe spending it outside would be enough to make Dipper forget about what just happened. "Yeah, okay. I'll do that."

"Great. I'll wait outside for you, okay? Don't take too long. I don't like to be kept waiting."

"Impatient, much." Dipper laughed before heading upstairs. He opened the door, and headed to the closet he shared with Mabel. Mabel had been busy, tasked with the job of recreating a wax statue for Stan to use in his future tours, so the room was left alone for Dipper's use. Pulling out his favorite orange t-shirt, a navy blue hooded-vest, and a pair of shorts, Dipper quickly changed out from the furry clothes of the wolf costume, and into more a more comfortable attire. As a finishing touch, he put on the blue and white pine tree hat he always wore and walked downstairs to meet Bill.

Bill had said he would wait for him outside, but before Dipper was able to reach the door from the shop, a crumbled up paper ball collided with his head. Dipper gasped and turned his head to see three teenage boys at the other end of the shop, laughing at him. "Oh my God, would you look at this dweeb?" one red-headed male, the tallest of the three, snorted. "Hey one-eye, how come you didn't dodge that paper ball? What, are you too blind to see it?" another teenager, a short pudgy man, asked Dipper, knowing full well that they had threw the ball at his blind spot specifically so he wouldn't be able to avoid it. 

The nickname, one-eye, felt like a punch in the gut. A sour reminder of what had happened that one fateful day. Distracted by his own self-pity, Dipper didn't even notice a tear slid across his cheek until it fell onto his hand. 

"Aw, is the little Cyclops going to cry? Well go on then, cry!" the last of the three, a freckled boy with black hair, grabbed another paper ball and threw it. This one made direct contact with Dipper's eye, causing Dipper to flinch.

"Leave me alone.." Dipper quietly muttered, rubbing at his arms as he tried so desperately not to cry in front of the teens teasing him.

"What was that? You need to speak up, one-eye. Or are you mute as well as blind?" the first one scoffed.

"I said leave me alone!" Dipper cried out, balling his fists as more tears fell down his cheek. He really didn't want to deal with this again, but the bullies only took his outburst as an invitation to pick on him more.  
"Oh yeah? You think you can make demands from us? Well tough luck!"

Dipper turned around in an effort to walk away, but the tallest of the three slammed Dipper against the shack's wall, trapping him in between his arms. The brunette's eye widened in fear as he looked up at the red-head.

"Don't you dare walk away from us, freak!" he screeched.

"I told you to leave me alone! I'm not going to just sit here and let you pick on me!" Dipper snapped. He was so tired of everyone torturing him. He could handle the occasional remarks made towards him, but this man was threatening him. 

"And what do you think you're going to do about it? Huh Cyclops? With those noodle arms, you couldn't even break a twig! Why I bet-" before the ginger could finish his sentence, a fist collided directly into the man's cheek, sending the man reeling back. 

Before Dipper could even register what had just happened, Bill had stepped in front of the smaller man. Blood stained Bill's fist, and his golden orb flashed with pure rage.

"Back. Off." Bill growled. "The next one who steps closer to Dipper gets sent to the hospital. I can't guarantee that you'll end up leaving it." 

The teen that Bill had punched held a bleeding nose. His green eyes glared directly into Bill's own eye and scowled. "Cipher."

"Trey." Bill returned the so-called greeting with a hiss in his voice.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Wow. Seriously? Come on Trey. I knew you were stupid but not THIS stupid. I just made my intentions clear. Stay away from Dipper."

"Or else what? You do realize that there's three of us and only one of you, right? We know you can be cocky, but even you have to know how much of a disadvantage you're in."

"Oh, I'm at a disadvantage, am I? That's funny, because if I recall correctly, your dad is only one more incident away from sending you to summer camp. I would hate to see what happens to you when he finds out about you starting public fights. Actually, no..that's a lie. I would love to be able to not see your face for the rest of the summer." Bill looked at him coldly, cracking his fists in preparation for a fight, if needed.  
At this, the ginger, Trey's, eyes widened. "What the-? How could you possibly know about that?!" he clenched his fist.

"Don't look so surprised, Trey. Cause I know lots of things. I know your mommy and daddy are thinking about sending you to summer camp in order to get your attitude in line, and I think this little incident right here is enough evidence to convince them, don't you think?"

Dipper, after finally gathering himself together, looked past Bill's shoulder to see that Trey appeared to be in a struggle of deciding between picking a fight or walking away. Not wanting to look like a coward in front of his friends, Trey pressed the issue on.

"...Bill?" Dipper trembled, not wanting a fight to break out in his grunkle's shack, but his call was interrupted.

"Do you really think my parents are going to take your word over mine?"

"On the contrary, I know for a fact they will. Even if they don't believe what I have to say, they will definitely believe this video of you." Bill pulled out his phone to reveal a video of Trey pinning Dipper against the wall before stopping so Bill could step in and protect Dipper himself.

Trey reached out in hopes to snatch the phone away from Bill, but the blonde was too quick for him. He shoved his phone back in his pocket, and before Trey could react any further, a shrill voice came across the other end of the shop, which had been empty aside from the five of them, until now.

"Trey! What on Earth do you think you're doing?!" 

"Mom!" Trey's eyes widened as his mother came into view. The woman angrily walked over to her son and pulled him back from Dipper and Bill.

"Answer me this instant, young man!"

"Mom, it's not what it looks like, I swear!" 

"Good morning, Mrs. Jones." Bill greeted Trey's mother politely, causing the woman to look at him apologetically. 

"Oh, good morning Bill. I'm so sorry..what happened here?"

"Trey was picking on my friend, Dipper." He pulled out his phone and showed Trey's mother the video of his son and friends torturing the young brunette. After the video ended, Mrs. Jones was practically steaming with anger. "Trey Alexander Jones! I leave you alone for twenty minutes and you're already starting fights?! That's it. Your father and I will discuss this, and when we get home, you're going to start packing your things for summer camp. As for you two!" Mrs. Jones looked over at Trey's two friends. "I will be telling BOTH of your parents about this incident, now let's go!" Without another word, the three teens followed Trey's mother outside to her car.

Bill let out a whistle. "I have to admit, I didn't expect that to turn out so well. She didn't even care that he was bleeding. Or maybe she felt he deserved it. Who knows. It's none of my business." he shrugged and turned to look at Dipper. "Are you okay?"

Dipper, with a shaky breath, nodded. He felt unable to speak at the moment, after everything that just happened. Bill frowned in concern and put his hand on Dipper's shoulder. "You're alright. I won't let them hurt you."

"Thank you, Bill.." 

"What happened? I was waiting outside for you but when you took too long, I came in only to find Trey and his goons ganging up on you."

Dipper ran his fingers through his hair and let out a sigh. "I'm not exactly sure..I was getting ready to meet you outside, when they threw a paper ball at me through my blind spot." He gestured to his bandages, and Bill immediately understood. "Then they called me names like 'one-eye' and 'Cyclops'. I tried to just walk away, but that's when Trey trapped me against the wall."

"Those cowards.." Bill growled out.

"Bill?" Dipper frowned, a bit worried about how Bill was taking the situation. 

"I'm sorry, Pine tree. You didn't deserve that."

"It's alright. It's not the first time people used my blind spot to bully me like that."

"...Hm. I think I have an idea on how to make it the last, though." this caused Dipper to raise his brow in confusion. 

"What do you mean?" instead of answering him, Bill simply walked over to Dipper's left side and put an arm around his shoulder, tugging the brunette closer to him.

Dipper furrowed his brow in confusion. "...Erm..Bill? What is this supposed to be, exactly?"

"Think about it, Pine tree. I have my left eye, and you have your right eye. We both have a blind spot..but when we're like this, we make up for that."

Dipper's eye widened in realization. He finally understood what Bill was doing. If they walked side by side like this, Bill could take the job of being Dipper's left eye, and Dipper could return the favor by being Bill's right eye. In this formation, the two could work together. 

"Huh...you're right.." Dipper's voice trailed off in awe. This was actually an amazing idea, and though it would take time for them to adjust like this, he could see this working. 

"Well, you know what they say."

"And what's that?"

"Two halves make a whole, Pine tree." Bill winked at him, causing Dipper to blush a scarlet red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Dipper. He just needs a hug.


	4. A Dance to Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill wakes Dipper up in the middle of the night in order to show him something.What's so important that Bill had to wait until the night time to show him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Strong language used (like once)  
> Special thanks to Criminals_code for drawing this beautiful fanart picture here! http://puu.sh/q8tw9/c10ce881ee.jpg  
> Which can be found at their Tumblr account at: http://gravity-light.tumblr.com/

To say that Dipper was agitated would be an understatement. While he wasn't necessarily angry, he couldn't help but sigh in annoyance at waking up at one in the morning. He always had slight insomnia, and his sleep deprivation only increased after the accident, as he found himself hardly able to sleep when he would have constant nightmares that in some way or another revolved around that faithful day. Mabel, being the caring sister that she was, managed to convince their overly cheap grunkle into buying some pills that were meant to help him get better rest. How she managed to convince him to buy them, Dipper wasn't sure, but they seemed to be working. For once that week, he found himself in blissful sleep. At least that was until the repetitive sound of a pebble beating against his window woke him up. 

With a low grumble, Dipper slowly sat up in his bed. He rubbed at his eye in hopes of fixing his vision, which was still blurry with sleep. When he finally felt more awake, he walked over to the end of the room and opened the window. A familiar blonde caught his attention, and whatever tiredness Dipper had immediately left him, being replaced with shock instead. "Bill? What the hell are you doing here?!" He whispered loudly enough for Bill to hear without the risk of waking his twin up.

"What do you mean? I obviously came to show you something amazing. Are you coming down or do I need to keep throwing pebbles at your window?"

Dipper groaned. He could not believe this. He rubbed at his temples and looked at Bill tiredly. "At one in the morning Bill? I was sleeping, and keep your voice down! You'll wake Mabel up!"

"Aw come on, Pine tree! There's a special event going on right now, and I want to show it to you." Bill rolled his eyes at Dipper's scolding, but still smiled nonetheless.

"What event is it?"

"That information will cost you." Dipper could practically hear the smugness in Bill's voice. It made his eye twitch.

"Ugh. Never mind. I'll be down in a second, wait for me out front, okay?"

"Got it." 

Dipper turned his head over to glance at his sister's bed, and noted that she was still asleep. Sighing in relief, Dipper made his way downstairs, avoiding as many creaky steps as he could so Stan wouldn't wake up. He almost had a heart attack when he heard the television on in their living room, but sighed in relief when he saw his grunkle was still sound asleep on the recliner. By the way he was snoring so loudly, Dipper was certain that nothing could wake him up. He turned on his heels and made his way out the door, where Bill stood.

"Is there any reason why you couldn't take me to this event earlier yesterday? You know, when everyone was still awake and I wouldn't have had to risk getting in trouble just to sneak out for you." 

"Sure there is. It's more fun this way, and even if it wasn't, it only occurs during the night time anyways."

That caused Dipper to raise his brow in suspicion. "...What kind of event is this?"

"I already told you, Pine tree. That information is going to cost you."

"Cost me what?"

"Mm, good question!" Bill hummed in thought, before a smirk tugged at his lips. "Okay, got it. If you want to know, you have to give me a kiss on the cheek."

Dipper could only glance at him with an unimpressed stare. 

"...Is that a no then?"

"You're such a greedy pig, Bill." Dipper rolled his eyes before leaning closer and giving Bill a quick peck on the cheek. 

"There. Now answer my question." Dipper responded coolly, trying to hide the blush that he was certain was forming on his cheeks.

Bill couldn't help but smile. Dipper had actually given him a kiss! In all honesty, he didn't think the brunette would. The fact that he did warmed his heart, even if he only did so for the information.  
"We're going to a dance, Pine tree."

"...A dance? You woke me up at one in the morning for a dance?"

"Aw, don't be like that! It'll be worth it, I promise."

"I don't know Bill..."

"Do you trust me?"

"What?" Dipper blinked in both surprise and confusion, as he stared at the blonde.

"I said, do you trust me?"

"Well...I..guess so?"

"Great! Then you should trust me when I say that this dance is something to die for. I promise. It only comes twice a year."

"Is that so? Well...." Dipper sighed in thought. If it meant this much to Bill, then he supposed he could give it a shot. Bill most likely wouldn't leave him alone until he agreed to go anyways. "Alright, fine. I'll go, but don't make me stay out all night okay?"

"No promises, Pine tree!" Bill chuckled, grabbing Dipper's hand and walking off into the woods with him. Dipper noticed by their position that Bill had arranged them in their two-eye form. At least, that was one of the names that Bill had taken to calling it. Two-eye form, Perfect Stance, Bill had come up with a lot of surprisingly lame names for it, but despite what they called it, it was still their signature. Bill would be placed closed to him on his left side, while Dipper was on Bill's right. They would walk around like this in order to form perfect vision. It had taken a while of practice, but eventually the two had gotten pretty decent at it. By walking like this, they were able to make up for each other's blind spots. If either of them saw something that they felt the other needed to know, they could easily talk about it. It did stop other children from picking on them, once they realized just how effective it had gotten, and while they didn't necessarily need it so much anymore, it was still a comfort for the both of them. 

"We're here!" Bill's voice rang through his ears, surprising Dipper out of his thoughts. He looked ahead, only for his eye to widen. In front of them lied a forest grotto. A small waterfall fell from above into a beautiful body of water. When Dipper looked closer into the lake, he could see the stars and Milky Way reflected off the surface. Aside from the natural beauty around them, Dipper was shocked to see what had to be at least a hundred fairies frolicking in the air around them. Dipper even noticed that a soft, yet enchanting melody was being played by a smaller group of them. He had never heard or seen anything more captivating. The way that the fae were dancing in perfect sync with each other had amazed Dipper. Not only were they all able to move in unison, but their dance was so graceful and elegant, he was sure that no human dance could possibly compare. He also noticed how wherever the fairies would move, a trail of pinks, blues, greens, and purples would follow after them. It appeared to be colorful, yet sparkling dust, which somehow managed to illuminate the sky along with the lights of the stars and the full moon. 

Dipper slowly turned his gaze away from the fairies and looked directly into Bill's golden orb. "I-...What is this?" he was at a loss for words. When Bill had said he wouldn't regret coming, he was right. If anything, Dipper was grateful that he tagged along with him.

"Isn't it beautiful? The fairies are dancing in honor of the summer solstice. It's a day of celebration for them. For some reason, the summer and winter solstice have always been a magical holiday for a lot of magical beings. Not just for the fairies, but for pixies, elves, unicorns, dryads, and nymphs too. Maybe even more than that."

"I've never seen anything like this before." Dipper trailed off as a small fairy flew up to him. She had to be at most the size of his index finger. She smiled politely at him, flying around him in circles before moving back to join her friends in their merry dance.

"They like you, Pine tree."

"Really? Well, I'm glad to hear that." Dipper couldn't help the soft smile tug that tugged at his lips.

"Yep! But then again, who wouldn't like you? You're amazing. I mean, you're intelligent. You have a kind heart too. I've noticed how you always go out of your way to help your sister, along with the citizens of Gravity Falls. What I'm trying to say is that you have a pure heart, Dipper. Not just that, but your desire and passion for knowledge is probably just the most adorable thing. The way that your eyes always light up when you see something that interests you. Everything about you is just perfect."

Dipper was shocked, to say the least. He wasn't expecting such a handful of compliments from Bill, especially considering his narcissistic personality. Dipper could practically feel the heated warmth flood into not just his cheeks, but his heart as well. Bill sounded so sincere with his words that it made Dipper's heart flutter.

"Do you really mean that Bill?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it, Dipper."

"...Thank you. No one has ever complimented me like that before."

"And that's something I'll never understand. I don't get how people don't see your beauty, but that's fine. It just means I won't have any competition."

"What?" 

Bill ignored his question and smirked at Dipper before grabbing his hands. "Dance with me, Pine tree." he whispered into Dipper's ear, causing a shiver to run down the brunette's spine. Dipper put some space in between them both by pulling back in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Bill. I can't..I just...I don't know how to dance."

"Then I'll teach you."

"W-wait what? I really don't.." Dipper had never danced in front of anyone before, minus his sister. Well, actually that was somewhat of a lie. He was forced to do the Lamby Lamby dance in front of his whole elementary school as a kid, but Dipper hardly called that a real dance. Still, after that horrifying day, Dipper had refused to dance in front of anyone, much to his parents' and sister's disappointment.

"It'll be fine, Pine tree. You need to loosen up anyways! A good dance is just what you need to get out of that shy comfort zone of yours."

"Alright, alright, but you're taking the lead." Dipper grumbled in annoyance, turning his gaze away from Bill's as the taller chuckled. 

"Fair enough." With that, Bill placed one of his hands around Dipper's waist, while holding Dipper's hand with the other. Dipper fought back the urge to flee from his nervousness, and placed his free hand on Bill's shoulder. The two began at a slow pace, swaying back and forth. Occasionally Bill would twirl Dipper around, much to the smaller's surprise. During their dance, the fairies paused in order to watch the two mingle together. Some of the fairies had cast a light upon the two, as they became the center of the stage. Dipper even noticed that the music had changed into a slower kind, one that matched their movements perfectly. Even with this being his first dance, Dipper was shocked to see how well in sync the two were. Though Dipper had almost fallen a few times, Bill still encouraged him to continue.

Bill swung Dipper out of his arm, causing Dipper to squeak as he struggled not to fall down. 

"You're thinking about this too hard. Just relax. Dancing is about going with the flow, not about calculation." Bill chuckled and reeled Dipper back into him, pulling the brunette against his chest.

"Erm, yeah..sorry." Dipper took a deep breath and willed himself to calm down. Glancing up into Bill's beautiful golden eye, Dipper felt a pull at his heart. Bill was amazing. He was so confident about everything. Even when he had his large ego get in the way sometimes, Bill's self-assurance was something he felt naturally drawn to. Not only that, but Bill was kind enough to go out of his way and protect Dipper against any harm directed towards him. It was the first time Dipper had felt so attracted to someone. 

He felt his eyes close as the two carried out their dance. Bill reached down, placing both of his on Dipper's hips, before lifting him up into the air.

This time, instead of gasping due to his nerves, Dipper found himself laughing cheerfully at the action. Their dance was perfect. Even if Dipper was a bit clumsy throughout, it didn't stop the fact that the two were having fun, and that's all that mattered. Instead of allowing Bill to place him down on the ground, Dipper wrapped his legs around Bill's waist. 

Bill's face heated up at the action. Before either could think about it, they found themselves leaning into each other, until their lips connected in a slow, passionate kiss.

Dipper had never kissed anyone before. He never thought he needed to love someone, but boy was he wrong. The feeling of his lips against Bill's shot small electric jolts of pleasure into him. 

Bill could tell that it was Dipper's first kiss, by the messy way Dipper tried to move their lips together. It was endearing, and yet quite possibly the cutest thing Bill had ever seen. Deciding to help him out, Bill took charge of the kiss, directing Dipper's lips with his to make it that much more pleasurable. Dipper brought his hands up to the back of Bill's neck and tangled his fingers with Bill's beautiful blonde locks.

Eventually the two pulled away in order to breathe. Dipper glanced up into Bill's eyes, noting how the stars in the sky gave it an extra shine. 

"That was amazing.." Dipper whispered softly, as if speaking too loudly would ruin the moment.

"Yeah. It was." Bill let out a breathy laugh and gently placed Dipper on the ground.

All around them, the fairies began clapping at their beautiful display of what can only be described as pure love.

Dipper just barely resisted the urge to hide his face in embarrassment. He had no idea that they had been acting as the center of attention between the group of fae, and that only caused Dipper's nerves to return.  
Bill smiled at the fairies in thanks, before returning his attention back to Dipper. "Why don't I take you home? It'll be morning soon, and I think you could use the sleep."

"Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you Bill." 

"It'll cost you though!"

"Again? Seriously?!" Dipper groaned in annoyance. "Way to ruin the mood, jerk. What do you want?"

"Hm, from you Pine tree...I think a date would suffice. What do you say about this Saturday, 7pm, Greasy's? It'll be my treat."

Dipper has never blushed so much before in his life. First they shared a dance, then a kiss, and now Bill wants a date...Bill wants a date. Dipper could hardly believe it. Once he gathered his courage, Dipper nodded.   
"Okay. Yeah..a date sounds nice. I'd really like that, actually."

"I figured you would. Come on, let's get you home."

A date. Dipper Pines had a date. A large ball of happiness swelled inside him. Moving to Gravity Falls might just be a great experience after all. Just wait until he told Mabel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like I didn't give you guys enough fairy tale Romance fluff, so here you go!  
> What's more romantic than a dance under a full moon at a Fairy party?


	5. Meet the Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper and Bill are getting ready for their date, but before that, Bill has to meet Dipper's family!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to let you guys know, the date doesn't actually take place here. It will be the next chapter though. I promise!  
> I just wanted to make sure Grunkle Stan, Mabel, Wendy, and Soos all met Bill before they went out. I felt that they needed a bit more action in the story.

Dipper Pines was nervous. Then again, who wouldn't be? Tonight marked the night of his first date, so naturally he would be feeling a bit uneasy. At least, that was what Mabel had said to try and reassure him.  
"You'll be fine, Dip' dot." Mabel rolled her eyes at her brother's anxious state. "Now relax a little bit while I go through your clothes and pick out something suitable for you."

This caused Dipper to raise a brow. "What? Since when did I ever give you permission to pick out what I wear?"

"Uh, bro. No offense but this is your FIRST date! I am not letting you ruin this by letting you go out in just some shorts and a t-shirt. What kind of love goddess would I be if I let you go out like that?"

Dipper didn't bother to bite back a groan at Mabel's self-proclaimed matchmaker status. For some reason, Mabel had always had a fondness with setting people up together. Sometimes they worked out, yet sometimes they didn't. Still, it didn't stop Mabel from feeling the need to "help" others whenever love was involved. His eye widened when he saw his sister take out a tux that he had kept once for play that his sister was in. He was originally going to throw it away, as tuxes weren't his thing, but Mabel had insisted that he kept it just in case of an emergency. 

"Mabel? You do realize this date is just to Greasy's Diner right? I highly doubt I should wear a tux to something as informal as that..I'd stand out."

"Standing out is a good thing, bro bro! it's what makes you more unique..but I guess you're right. What if you got it dirty?" She put it back inside their closet and began another search for something more appealing to wear.

"Shouldn't I be the one to pick out what I want to wear?"

"If I said yes to that question, would you attempt to go on your date wearing the clothes you're wearing now?"

"....Maybe?"

"Then nope! This is exactly why you need my help."

Dipper let out a sigh, but reluctantly agreed. "Alright, fine..just promise me you'll pick out something simple. I don't want to be too flashy, okay Mabel? That means no glitter, or anything like that."

Mabel groaned at his response. "Ugh, you're so boring. Glitter makes everything better...fine. What about scratch and sniff stickers?"

"Who would even wear those on a date Mabel?"

"Me!" She smiled and let out a dorky laugh, which was enough to lighten Dipper's mood up a bit. He smiled in return and elbowed her gently in the arm. "Besides you, Mabel!"

"Okay, Dipper. I think I found something that will be decent enough for you to wear, while still maintaining your dork style."

"Hey! I am not a do-" Dipper's sentence was cut off by a look from Mabel that just dared him to challenge that statement.

"Okay, maybe I am a little bit."

"A little bit? Bro, no one else I know will squeal like a little girl over graph paper in a nerd game." 

"Oh my God, Mabel!" Dipper blushed in embarrassment. "There's nothing wrong with Dungeons, Dungeons, and more Dungeons! You just aren't smart enough to understand it." He pouted at her, causing Mabel to laugh. 

"Whatever you say, Dip' dot. Now put this on." Mabel handed Dipper a pile of clothes before ushering the boy into their bathroom. 

Dipper raised a brow and looked at the clothes Mabel had picked out in concern. Though to his surprise, Mabel had actually stuck to his standards. Instead of what he feared would be an overly fluffy pink sweater filled with cats, glitter, and stickers, Mabel had picked out a simple orange shirt, a navy blue hooded jacket, and khaki pants. After he finished changing, Dipper came back into their room only to be met with Mabel's calculating stare. 

Dipper coughed and rubbed his arm nervously. "Well? How do I look?"

"One second, bro." She walked over to him, and pulled the sleeves of his jacket half way up his arms, before taking a few steps back and eyeing her handiwork. "Hm....good enough. Could use some glitter though."  
Dipper ignored her last comment, and stepped over to a mirror to get a good look at himself. He had to admit, Mabel's choice of clothing made him look pretty good. He wouldn't stand out at all with this outfit. It was fairly simple, much to Dipper's satisfaction, and he felt it still caught his personality well. It suited him, if he were being honest. Hopefully Bill would think so too. 

Shaking his head, Dipper smiled and turned back to look at Mabel. "Thanks Mabes."

"Anytime, bro bro. Just remember, be yourself on this date okay? Don't try to pretend to be someone you're not. And most importantly, stay calm. Being nervous about a date makes it so much worst! Just try to have fun, okay?"

"Right. I'll try..no promises though." Dipper sighed before reaching over to grab his favorite pine tree hat. His eye widened in surprise when Mabel's hand gently shoved his own away. "Oh no Dipper! You are not going to wear that hat tonight!"

"What? But Mabel! It's my lucky hat! I always wear it!" Dipper attempted to argue with her, but Mabel would not give in so easily. "And you can wear it again tomorrow. Dipper, I don't have anything against your hat but like you said, you're always wearing it! It's time you try something new and go without it for a change. Besides, why would you want to hide your hair? Not when it looks this good!"

"It's not that I'm trying to hide it, Mabel..it's just, that hat offers some sort of security for me." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"That's precisely why you need to go a night without it, Dipper." Mabel frowned at him. "As important as this hat is to you, it's not like you can wear it every day of your life. Just go without it for one night and I won't stop you from wearing it ever again."

"Okay Mabel." 

"Great! Now let's get you downstairs before Bill comes. I can't wait to meet him!" Mabel cheered excitedly as she grabbed Dipper's hand and ushered him downstairs where their grunkle, Soos, and Wendy were waiting. They all wanted to meet Bill, seeing as how he was going to be Dipper's first date, and they felt the need to be there for him. Though Bill was in one of Grunkle Stan's tours back when Dipper had been dressed in a wolf costume, he never got the chance to get an impression from the kid. Therefore he insisted on meeting him in order to make sure that this Bill fellow wasn't someone who was out to harm him. It warmed Dipper's heart, knowing that they cared that much about him.

"Whoa, dude." Soos started the conversation, munching on a few potato chips. "Not bad. You gonna be okay on this date man?"

"Relax, the kid will be fine." Grunkle Stan waved his hand, dismissing Soos' worry. "You know Dipper, I know a lot of adults can be a bit rough when it comes to this kind of thing," Stan began, referring to Dipper's homosexuality. "But in reality, there's nothing wrong with it. Love is love, kid. But I want you to know that the world still isn't quite accepting of it. I'm pretty certain most of the residents in Gravity Falls don't care about this kind of thing, but you never know just who might be against it. I don't see why it bothers them so much, but point is, if anyone tries to tell you that your love interests are wrong, punch 'em in the gut for your good ole grunkle Stan."

Dipper couldn't help but smile widely at his grunkle's encouragement. It was true. A lot of adults back in the city were more than a little bit judgmental towards him when they found out about Dipper's preference for men. It meant a lot to him that no matter what, his family would always be there for him. They accepted him for who he was, and even if they could annoy him or give him challenging tasks at times, they were still his family. It was something Dipper found he was grateful for.

"Thank you Grunkle Stan." Dipper nodded softly towards the elder man, when a knock on the door was heard.

"Do you think that's him?" Wendy asked, curious to see what Bill was like.

"Only one way to find out!" Before Dipper could even have a chance, Mabel had swung open the door. She was instantly met with a taller, slim, blonde boy wearing a simple yellow sweater with a single eye design on the front. Aside from that, Bill only wore what appeared to be black skinny jeans and some black sneakers. 

"Hey, is Dipper here? I'm supposed to take him to Greasy's tonight." 

Instead of answering him directly, Mabel let out a rather loud squeal. "Oh my gosh Dipper!" She turned to look at her twin, who stared at her with a blank expression. 

"What?"

"You didn't tell me Bill was a hottie!" She pouted at him, only for Dipper to flush pure red in return. 

"M-Mabel!" Dipper squeaked in embarrassment, "Oh my God..please just stop." Dipper groaned, burying his face in his hands in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. He looked up slightly when he heard the sound of Bill chuckling. 

"So you must be Mabel. Pine tree's told me a lot about you." Bill nodded his head towards her as she welcomed him into the Mystery Shack.

"Pine tree?" Wendy asked with a raised brow.

"Oh, that's my nickname for Dipper. Cause he's always wearing that pine tree hat." 

"Cool, dude." Wendy responded with an amused laugh.

"That's so cute!" Mabel gasped. "Dipper, you guys already have cute nicknames for each other?!"

"W-Wait what?! We do not!" 

"Oh, but Pine tree, if I recall correctly, you once called me a 'Dorito'."

"Why a dorito, dude?" Soos questioned. "I mean, that's a pretty weird nickname."

"Okay, Bill, you aren't helping." Dipper sighed and looked up at Soos. "It's because Bill has an obsession with triangles." He recalled the many times he had seen Bill wearing something with a triangular pattern. Every now and then he even caught himself in the middle of a conversation with him about how great geometry was. Bill would constantly try to teach him about the 'amazing qualities that each triangle holds' as Bill called it. Dipper was certain that Bill had to be some sort of mathematical genius for how often he went on about it. If he were to guess, math was probably Bill's favorite subject in school. For Dipper, it was science, though he didn't mind math either.

"I prefer to think of it as a fascination, Pine tree." Bill argued, though it held no bite.

"It's an obsession, Bill."

At this point, Grunkle Stan had got up from his recliner and walked over to Bill. He looked him up and down with calculating eyes. After a moment of the two staring at each other, Grunkle Stan nodded in approval. "You seem alright, but just know that if you ever hurt the kid, I won't be so forgiving. Got that?"

The blond nodded in return, though he didn't seem fazed by his threat. Why would he? He could never find it in him to hurt his precious pine tree. If the day ever came where he did, however, then Bill was fully ready to take on the consequences. 

"Yes sir. I have no intentions of hurting him though. What time shall I have him back by?"

The fact that Bill had the decency to ask him when he preferred Dipper be home by, did put Stan at ease. That meant Bill was serious. He took a quick glance at the clock, noting that it was ten after seven.  
"Have him back no later than ten, alright? As for you kiddo," Stan glanced over at his great nephew, "Be safe, okay? Don't do things that you know I would do. I don't want to have to get a phone call from Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland saying that you kids got yourselves into trouble."

Dipper frowned, though nodded his head in understanding. "I won't Grunkle Stan. We're just going to the diner. It's not even that far of a walk from here."

"Alright, alright." Grunkle Stan sighed and pulled out his wallet. "Here's twenty dollars. Don't order anything too expensive." 

Dipper took the bill from his grunkle in surprise. Grunkle Stan was never that generous before...then again, he would probably make Dipper work it off tomorrow. Still, it was a generous offer.

"So like, good luck dudes, and watch out for creepy dudes." Soos warned them.

"Okay now all of you guys are acting like my mom." Dipper groaned. He was almost thirteen for goodness sake! He didn't need to be treated like a child. Even if he still technically was one.

"Wait, who is driving you guys?" Wendy questioned with a raised brow. She figured Bill's parents would be driving them, but she wanted to make sure. 

"Oh, we were going to walk." Dipper and Bill both spoke up at the same time.

"Are you sure that's safe bro bro?" Mabel looked at her twin in concern. She didn't want him to walk around and risk the chance of getting hurt.

"It'll be fine, Shooting Star." Bill commented, giving her the official nickname of Shooting Star after seeing the corresponding design that presented itself on her sweater. "The diner is only about a ten minute walk from here. I've been in Gravity Falls all of my life. I know everyone that lives here. It's a pretty safe town, so I highly doubt anyone would attempt to threaten us."

Mabel looked towards Grunkle Stan, to see what he thought of all of this. Though he didn't seemed bothered by it. "That's fine, just be smart and be cautious." Mabel was almost surprised that Grunkle Stan didn't offer to drive them, but then again, it would be awkward to invade their privacy like that. Not to mention the fact that he was probably more than happy at not having to waste money on gas.

Dipper resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I know. I'm almost a teenager. I know all of the rules when it comes to going out." He blushed darkly, as if this night wasn't embarrassing enough for him. He couldn't believe everyone had started treating him like a child again. It was a sweet gesture, and deep down Dipper knew that they were just looking out for him, but that didn't mean it wasn't humiliating for them to act this way around Bill.

Bill only seemed amused by their frantic worrying, before looking at Dipper and offering his arm out for him to grab. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm ready." Dipper sighed but accepted the arm as the two headed out. 

"Have fun, guys!" The sound of Wendy, Soos, Mabel, and Grunkle Stan's voices echoed behind them, causing Dipper to smile and wave back at them in reassurance before turning his attention back to Bill. The blush on his face still hadn't subsided, and the nerves he had been feeling earlier only intensified. Yet despite this, Dipper was still looking forward to tonight. 

His first date. He couldn't believe it was finally happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, if you were hoping that this chapter would be about their date. I promise, the next one will focus entirely around these two dorks and their trip to Greasy's Diner!


	6. It's Not a Date Without a bit of Humor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally time for Dipper and Bill's date at Greasy's Diner. Bill gets an idea, and Dipper goes along with it. How will this turn out?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terribly sorry for the wait guys, it took me a long time to figure out how I wanted their date to play out.
> 
> On another note! I've been told that apparently due to some information in the journal, chapter 3 as a bit odd. At first I had no idea what they meant, as I didn't have the journal at the time, but now I understand. I quickly changed the error, but I won't be explaining what it is for everyone's sake. I don't want to spoil the Journal for everyone. 
> 
> Just note that if you haven't read the journal, it won't make a difference to you. It's a very minor detail.

"So Pine tree, your family sure is interesting." Bill let out a soft whistle as he walked side by side with Dipper down town to Greasy's Diner. The two had their arms linked together in their signature position, with Dipper on Bill's right and the blonde on his left. While it was still new to them, they were growing more and more used to it every day. It became a common practice for them, and even now they seemed to do it more for their own comfort rather than the original purpose of covering each other's blind spots, but it was helpful either way. 

"God, I'm sorry about how awkward it was." Dipper sighed in annoyance. He loved his family, he really did, but there was nothing more embarrassing than having all of his family members treat him like a child. Well, he supposed it was only fair considering he technically still was one, but in just a few weeks he would finally be thirteen. He was basically a teenager already! At least Mabel should have understood, but she seemed just as overprotective as everyone else! 

Bill rose a brow and looked over at the brunette with confusion. "Awkward? Pine tree, if that's what you call awkward then I can't even imagine what you would think of my family." he let out a soft chuckle as he ran his slim fingers through his hair. 

Hearing about Bill's family for the first time caused a spark of interest to flow in Dipper. "That's right..you never told me about your family before. What are they like?"

"Well I could say the same for you. I never even knew you had a twin until a few moments ago. I mean I knew Mabel was your sister, but your twin? That's so odd."

"Twins run in the family," Dipper shrugged, "it's not that strange."

"No, you misunderstood me. It's weird for me because I have a twin too." 

This news caused Dipper to look at Bill with suspicion. "No way."

"Way." Bill smirked back. "Never expected that, did you?"

"Are you serious right now? You mean to tell me that not only do we share the same injury but we BOTH have twin siblings? I don't think I can believe you on that."

"Well you better believe it, Pine tree. His name's Will." At this, Dipper had to roll his eye. "How incredibly corny." Surprisingly, Bill only laughed at this. "Yeah, I know. Seems a bit too weird to be true right? But I'm telling the truth, here." with his free hand, Bill pulled out his wallet, showing Dipper a picture of him and his twin. Dipper noticed how alike..and yet different, they were. 

"We're not identical twins, but we might as well be. The only real physical difference between us is our hair and eye color." Dipper nodded in agreement. Bill was radiant, like a sun, with his golden hair and fiery eyes. It matched his personality completely. On the other hand, Bill's twin, Will, had a lighter blue hair, along with electric blue eyes.

"This picture..you have two eyes in this. So this was before your accident, right?"

"Exactly. We both ended up missing an eye, surprisingly, but after the incident Will became pretty camera shy. He won't take any pictures with me anymore unless I force him too...but given his personality, I try not to."

"Why not? What exactly is he like?"

"Well, to make it simple, he's basically a cry baby. He wasn't so bad before the accident, a bit of on the shy end, sure, but now he hardly talks to anyone. In fact, he almost never leaves the house. When he does, I have to be there with him." Bill rolled his eye at this. "Whenever I see him, he's always crying about something. Maybe it's because of how everyone treats him. I don't know, but I try to protect him whenever I can. I just wish he'd grow out of it soon because I can't be there for him forever, you know?"

Dipper nodded his head in agreement. "Mabel is like that too. Well, I mean just by the fact that she relies on me a lot whenever it comes to her boy crushes. She's not like Will. Probably the opposite, really. Mabel has a magnetic personality and can become friends with anyone in an instant."

"No kidding? Maybe I should introduce Will to her..she'd probably be a good influence on him." 

"Maybe. She can be a bit overly hyper at times, but she does mean well. She loves making new friends, so I'm sure she'd be really excited to meet your brother."

Bill remained quiet, trying to think of a way that Will could meet Mabel without him running off to him, crying again. "Ah! I got it!" 

Dipper looked at Bill with a wide eye. "Got...what exactly?"

"How would you and Shooting Star feel about hanging out with me and my brother one day?"

The brunette was surprised, to say the least. This actually sounded like a good idea. He had wanted Mabel to get know Bill more, seeing as how they haven't had the chance yet, this would be perfect. Plus Dipper could get to meet Bill's twin at the same time. It seemed like the perfect way for them to meet each other.

"You know what? That actually sounds really cool. I think Mabel would like that a lot, and I can finally meet your brother."

"Great! It's all settled then. Let's see....where can we go? How about the pool?"

"Sounds good to me. I'll let Mabel know when I get home." Dipper nodded. Bill, seemingly satisfied with his answer, beamed a smile at him and went back to whistling. The two walked in peaceful silence after that, simply enjoying each other's company as they got closer to Greasy's Diner. Dipper took this time to relax. He was afraid that he would be more nervous, but somehow Bill's personality and their conversation, along with the atmosphere in the air, made him able to calm down. Maybe this date would be easier than he thought it would be.

"Look out!" Bill's screeching shook Dipper out of his thoughts, and before he could even blink, he was violently pulled backwards. Suddenly a rushing car passed right by them, honking at them as it just narrowly missed Dipper in the process of driving by.

With his heart beating a mile a minute, and his eye wide with fear, Dipper turned to look at Bill in hopes of gaining a sense of what just happened.

"You okay Pine tree? That car would have ran over you if I didn't pull you back!"

Dipper registered Bill's words, but no words could come out of his mouth. Instead, he glanced over to the street that they had been walking on. It wasn't busy with cars, but Dipper's blind spot prevented him from even seeing the car coming towards them. If he would have been paying attention, he probably would have heard it, but as usual Dipper's mind distracted him from the real world again. 

His hands clasped over his body, as if to make sure that he wasn't a ghost. Once he confirmed that he was in fact, still alive, he let out a sigh of relief. Bill saved him. Again. As embarrassing as that was, Dipper couldn't help but be grateful. 

"Thanks, Bill." Dipper whispered, though his voice was still shaky from fear.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that we were walking like this." Bill furrowed his brows in concern. If they hadn't been walking in their signature stance, having each other side by side to cover the other's blind spot, Dipper could have been hurt. 

"Yeah..." Dipper nodded his head. His knees buckled together, threatening to give out any moment now.

"You okay? Do you need a moment?" 

"No, I'm good," Dipper shook his head. "We're almost there, right?"

"Yep! It should just be right around the corner."

"Good..I think I need to sit down for a while. Maybe forever." Dipper chuckled nervously, but he continued their walk. Sure enough, Bill was right. In front of them stood a very peculiar log-shaped building. 

"So this is Greasy's Diner?" Dipper questioned. "Interesting architecture.." he noticed above the building stood two signs. One with the name of the restaurant, and another smaller one below it stating "we have food".

'Way to point out the obvious..' Dipper thought to himself. He couldn't help but roll his eye at how strange the restaurant seemed. Then again, everything in Gravity Falls was weird, Dipper supposed. An odd diner seemed to be the least of his concerns.

"I know it probably seems odd, but the food is good. Okay maybe good isn't the right word, but it's the only diner they have in Gravity Falls. Their food is at least half way decent."

"That's fine with me." Dipper dismissed Bill's complaints with a wave of his hand. "I'm not picky about food."

"Fair enough. Onwards, my nerdy tree!" Bill shouted, raising their hands together as he rushed the smaller boy inside with him, much to Dipper's surprise.

"Slow down, you giant dorito!"

"But pine treee!" Bill whined. "I'm hungry!" 

Dipper couldn't help but chuckle at this. Bill seemed like an overactive puppy at times. "Alright, fine, your highness." Dipper rolled his eye playfully, but didn't bother stopping the small smile that graced his face. 

"You say that as a joke now, but I'll be the one laughing when that title becomes reality." Bill flicked Dipper's nose. "Shame on you, Pine tree."

"Oh hush. The only title you have right now that I can't laugh at is my boyfriend. Your still a chip though, so don't get your hopes up."

"Well Pine tree, I may be a dorito, but I'm also your dorito...and if that makes me the chip in this relationship, then you're the dipping sauce. Get it? Cause Dipper, Dipping sauce? It's genius."

"Is our entire status going to be based off of corny pick up lines?" Dipper snickered in his hand.

"Absolutely."

Suddenly, a larger elder woman came up to the two with a smile. "Oh is that you Bill? Haven't seen you in a while, sweetie!"

"Hiya, Lazy Susan! Sorry it's been so long, but I'm back!"

"I can see that, and what's this? You got yourself a date?" Lazy Susan smiled brightly as she glanced over to see Dipper's arm linked with his.

"Yes ma'am." Bill nodded his head. Dipper, in an effort to not show the dark blush on his face, hid behind Bill. 

"Oh, she's such a cute little thing, Bill." Lazy Susan gave a warm laugh.

Wait...what?

"Your girlfriend's a keeper, hun." Lazy Susan blinked her good eye, as she nudged Bill playfully. "You can't tell right now, but I'm winking at you." Did Dipper hear that correctly? Did..Lazy Susan just call him Bill's girlfriend?

"...Actually, miss, I'm not-" before Dipper could correct Lazy Susan's mistake, the elder lady had already handed Bill and Dipper their menus. "I know just the place for you sweethearts. Follow me." She gave another polite smile before leading the two pre-teens to a table with a good window view of Gravity Falls.

"Thank you, Lazy Susan." Bill hummed before taking his seat, with Dipper sitting across from him.

"Anytime, Bill. Now what can I get you two sweethearts to drink?"

"The usual for me. A glass of your finest lemonade." Bill smirked at her. 

"Why does it sound like you're ordering alcohol?" Dipper rose a brow.

"Oh that's just his personality, dear. You'll get used to him eventually." Lazy Susan gave him a playful pat on the shoulder in reassurance. "And what about you?"

"Um...I guess Pitt cola?"

"Mkay, coming right up." Lazy Susan wrote their orders down on her notepad before hurrying away.

"She seems friendly." Dipper watched as she took another person's order, a relatively normal looking man in a white dress shirt and neatly combed black hair. Somehow the two were able to laugh together about bread of all things.

"Yeah Lazy Susan's not the smartest of people, but she's a kind person."

"Does that name come from her eye?" Dipper whispered, not wanting the elder woman to hear him. He felt bad for speaking so rudely about this, but he was genuinely curious. Bill however, didn't seem to mind. He laughed it off and nodded his head.

"Yeah, that and because she's a bit sluggish. She takes pride in her nickname though, so don't worry."

Dipper sighed in relief. "Good," suddenly the memory of Lazy Susan referring to him as a girl replayed in his mind. "..She does realize I'm a boy right?"

"Like I said, not the brightest of people. You could try to correct her but I don't think she'd understand."

"It's fine." Dipper shrugged. While he wasn't very fond of being called a girl, he didn't particularly have the heart to tell her the truth.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dipper caught sight of a jukebox in the corner of the restaurant. Bill glanced over, following his gaze, and smirked as an idea popped into his head.

"Hey Pine tree. I have an amazing idea. Follow me."

Curious to see what Bill was up to, Dipper got up wand followed the taller boy to the jukebox. 

"Alright, I've known you long enough to know that you're up to mischief. What are you planning?"

"You know me so well." Bill chuckled. "Well, how about we make this date a bit more entertaining?" 

Dipper rose a brow. "...How exactly do you propose we do that?"

"Just watch." Bill took out his wallet, sliding a few dollar bills and placed them into the machine. Dipper watched carefully as Bill selected seven plays of a song called What's New Pussycat by Tom Jones. 

"Okay..and how is this supposed to be entertaining?" 

"You'll see. Just wait a few moments, and keep a good eye on the restaurant." Bill snickered. The two headed back to their table, where Lazy Susan came back with their drinks.

"Thank you, Lazy Susan." The two preteens smiled politely at her.

"Anytime! Now have you two lovebirds decided on what you want to eat?"

"Sure have! I'll take a number 8, the steak with a side of fries."

"Alright...and how would you like your steak done?"

"Rare, as usual." Lazy Susan nodded and wrote it down. She then turned her gaze to Dipper. "And for you?"

"Just some pancakes, please."

"Okay sweeties. I'll be back with your order soon." She gave them another "wink" before walking off.

Bill glanced over at Dipper. "So, pancakes? At night?"

"Yeah, it's weird, I know. Pancakes are my favorite though."

"Can't argue with that." 

As the two continued their conversation, Dipper eventually noticed how irritable the restaurant seemed. 

"Isn't this great, Pine tree?" Bill whispered to him. "Everyone is getting on edge because that song has been playing for a full four times."

Dipper nodded his head. It was pretty amusing. One man in particular caught their eye. He was a tall, muscular ginger man, who looked an awful lot like Wendy. Beside him were three boys. His children, Dipper assumed. The preteens noticed how his eyes began twitching as he struggled to calm down. His attempts weren't working very well, and they now waited patiently for the man to break. As the song, What's New Pussycat slowly played to a stop, both Bill and Dipper were practically leaning out of their seats as they eagerly awaited the man's reaction.

Suddenly, the very same song began its fifth repeat. This was all it took for the man to snap. In a frustrated rage, he slammed his large fists down on the table, causing his plate to jump as the result. "Who keeps playing that song?!" He fumed. It took everything they had for the two boys to not burst out in laughter. Tears fell down their cheeks at how perfect it all was.

"Bill, you're a genius." Dipper whispered.

"Aren't I? That's Manly Dan. He's got crazy temper tantrum issues. He's always hilarious to watch when he gets angry." 

It wasn't long before Lazy Susan came out with their meals, placing their trays on the table. "Careful, sweeties. It's still hot." She nodded at them. "If you need anything, just call for me." with that, she walked over to Manly Dan in hopes of calming him down by refilling his coffee.

The two ate their meals in content, still enjoying everyone's frustration with the repetitive song. 

"Hey Pine tree. Should we go put another couple dollars in and select the same song again?"

"You're so evil, Bill."

"Is that a yes?"

"Definitely." without another word, the two stood up and returned to the jukebox. This time, Dipper put in a few dollars of his own. Before Bill could select the same song again, Dipper paused him. "Wait, Bill. I have an idea." This sparked Bill's interest. "What's that?"

"What if we played ONE It's Not Unusual by Toms Jones..and then make the rest of the list What's New Pussycat again?"

"I knew there was a reason why I took a liking to you. Let's do it." Bill laughed, selecting the songs. The two then hurried back before anyone would hopefully notice them. 

In order to feign innocence, the two started talking casually. They didn't fail to notice the sigh of relief, the tears of joy, that escaped everyone in the diner as their pain finally seemed to have ended. A new song began, and everyone seemed to have lightened up because of it. Manly Dan was now calm again, but it wouldn't be that way for long.

"Lazy Susan? Can we have the check?" Bill asked. 

"Sure thing!" She moved back to the register and wrote their check, before placing it on their table.

Dipper and Bill had already agreed to split the price, as long as Bill was able to pay the tip. "You ready to go Bill?" Dipper smiled. "Not yet...let's wait until the song stops." he gave Dipper a wink, and Dipper quickly understood.

As the song slowly came to an end, Dipper and Bill shared a glance at each other.

"3...2....1.." the two whispered, counting down, and just on time, What's New Pussycat began playing again for the millionth time. They only needed a second to enjoy the scene as everyone in the restaurant lost it. They all groaned and screamed in agony, and Manly Dan was just seconds away from looking as though he were about to toss the jukebox out of the window personally. Dipper and Bill, after trying for so long to hold back, let out a loud laugh that gave them away as the culprits for their musical crime. It took one glare from Manly Dan for the pair to realize they were caught. "....On three?" Dipper looked over at Bill, as Manly Dan slowly stood up from his chair.

"On three." Bill agreed.

"One..." they began their countdown as Manly Dan began his path to their table, likely to give them a good lecture about what they had done.

"Two....three!" and before the muscular man could even process it, the two boys had bolted out of the diner, though not without making sure to give Lazy Susan their money first. 

The two boys laughed as they ran back to Dipper's house, not once looking back to see if Manly Dan would have followed them. 

"That was the best thing I have ever seen." Dipper chuckled as the Mystery Shack had come into view.

"Wasn't it? Your idea to put that one song in first was just brilliant! Did you see the look on Manly Dan's face when his tears of joy turned into tears of pain? I thought he was about to break the table!"

"That would have been priceless. Though I would feel bad for Lazy Susan if he did. Still, I can't wait to tell everyone about it. I'm pretty sure Manly Dan has to be Wendy's dad, so Wendy will get a kick out of it. Grunkle Stan will probably be proud, and Mabel will find it just as funny as we did." Dipper gave Bill a small smile as he walked up the old wooden steps of the shack.

"Really Bill, I had a good time."

"Glad to hear that, Pine tree! I'll take that as a yes to doing this again?"

"Definitely." Dipper leaned over and kissed Bill on the cheek, before pressing a soft kiss on his lips. Bill hummed into the kiss. It was as sweet as their first kiss during the summer solstice. Bill pulled Dipper into a warm embrace before they slowly pulled apart. 

"Well then..I'll see you tomorrow?" Dipper asked quietly, a small blush forming on his freckled cheeks.

"Tomorrow." Bill nodded in agreement, before breaking their hug and walking towards home. Bill's presence was something Dipper found he was enjoying more and more. He couldn't wait to see the blonde again, and maybe they could really introduce their twins to each other soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got this chapter done. I hope it's good enough for you guys (:  
> Woo, okay, so I hope you guys don't mind the incredibly corniness that is the fact that Bill ALSO has a twin, Will Cipher, and that Will has an eye missing as well...yeah. That's pretty corny. But it'll be cute later guys, I promise.
> 
> Anyways, as for the jukebox scene, it was inspired by comedian, John Mulaney. My friend asked me to include this scenario into their date a while back, and I owe her, so I did. If you recognized it, good for you! If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYIwPu50Fic


	7. Friendship is the Key to Happiness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill drags Will out for a day of fun at the pool with Dipper and Mabel! Bill's looking forward to it, but the problem is that Will has a hard time dealing with society. Well, Bill is hoping that meeting the other twins will have a positive influence on his dear brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There isn't a whole lot of Billdip in this chapter, sorry about that, but this chapter DOES focus on Bill's family. With Will Cipher being his younger twin brother and Tad Strange being their adoptive father.
> 
> Note: This chapter has not been edited for any errors yet. Sorry about that everyone! But I'm pretty tired from writing this, so I'll look through it for mistakes later.

Bill Cipher, a young boy with a charming personality, was facing what he called a dilemma. Normally, Bill was pretty good at persuading people into getting whatever he wanted. Ranging from free ice cream, a road trip with his family, or a date with a certain special someone. No matter what it was, Bill always found a way to get it. He liked to think that no one could resist his charismatic personality. No one, at least except for his brother, Will Cipher.

No, instead his younger twin brother was rather stubborn. While Bill did his best to not ask much of his sibling often, today was a special occasion. One that would hopefully help the oversensitive blue-haired teen grow out of his shell. 

"Come on Will!" Bill groaned, he did not feel like playing games at the moment, but his brother was making this much more difficult than it had to be. "I already told Pine tree we'd come, so you can't back out on me!"

Will's body trembled at the sound of his twin's raised voice. "I-I don't want to." Will sniffed, hugging his body closer as he tried his best not to cry. "You'll get distracted by Dipper a-and I'll be l-left all alone in a crowd full of people, Bill. Then the o-other kids will come and make fun of me again!" the younger squeaks, sobs unwillingly escaping him as he thought through every possible negative scenario in his head.

The blonde pre-teen sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. "Will, you know that's not true. Dipper and I may be in a relationship, but he isn't going to take me away from you. Besides, Pine tree's twin will be there too. You'll have fun Will, I promise."

"S-says you.." Will whispered out, his voice too weak from fear to speak up. "You were the one who planned this out without asking me. I don't even like the pool. Then I h-have to wear a swim suit. I don't want people to see me. I just want to stay inside where it's safe."

Upon his brother's cries, Bill crouched down next to him, pulling the smaller twin into a hug. "And then what? Will, you can't just stay inside your whole life."

"Yes I can." Will leans into Bill's hold, crying in his shoulder. "I've been doing it so long already.."

"And that's why you need to get out. Will, you know I wouldn't be asking you for this if it was going to torture you the whole time. You need friends, Will."

"I-I have a friend. I have you, Bill." he sniffs once more, his arms slowly reaching up to pull Bill closer to him.

"Besides me, Will." Bill's gaze on the smaller softened, and to soothe him, Bill began stroking Will's hair gently. It always had a calming effect on him. "Please Will? I want you to meet Dipper. It'd mean a lot to me."

"I don't know Bill," Will glances at the ground, wiping a tear from his eye, "I'm scared." His voice trails off into a quiet hum. He didn't want to upset his twin, but the idea of going outside frightened him. It always has.

"Tell you what, Will. If you come with me for just this one thing, when we get home I'll let you sleep with me again. We can even watch your favorite movie, too."

Will slowly turns his gaze back into his brother's golden orb. "Lilo and Stitch?"

Bill nods his head. "Anything for my favorite brother."

"I'm your only brother."

"All the more reason why your my favorite, Will. Now what do you say?"

The younger closed his eye in thought, eventually coming to his decision. With a slow nod of his head, he opened his eye again. "Y-yeah...okay, I'll come."

"Good. Let's get going then. They'll love you Will, I'm sure of it."

"Do you really think so?"

"I know so. You'll love them too, they aren't like the other kids. They are like us."

Will stood up with his brother, rubbing the tears out of his eye. "O-okay, Bill. I trust you."

\-----------------------------------

It didn't take them long to get to the pool thankfully, considering their adoptive father, Tad Strange, was willing to give them a ride. When they arrived, Bill was delighted to see that Dipper and Mabel were already there and were waving at them in greeting.

"Hey Bill!" Mabel called out to them excitedly, unlike her brother who preferred simply giving them a small smile. Dipper knew from Bill's warnings that Will was the kind to be easily startled, and while Dipper was a quiet person in general, he didn't want to risk upsetting the sensitive boy. Though he told Mabel to be careful numerous times, he still worried about their encounter with Will. Mabel was kindhearted, but he feared her bold personality would be too much for Will.

"What's up Shooting Star?" Bill walked over to the other two twins, with his own brother clinging to him from behind. The blonde gave Mabel a high five, before speaking up. "Thanks for coming guys, it means a lot to me and my brother." 

"Is this him?" Mabel glanced behind Bill's shoulder, trying to catch a better look at the smaller pre-teen. "He's so shy."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Bill turned around to look at his sibling. "Will? Don't you want to introduce yourself?"

Under normal circumstances, Will would have shook his head no, but he knew Bill would give him no choice in the matter. Taking a deep breath to gather what little confidence he had, Will stepped aside from him. He tried his best to look at the pair of brunettes, but he found their gaze too intimidating, and instead chose to stare at the floor.

"H-hey everyone." Will whispered out, trying to stop his body from trembling so much.

Dipper frowned in concern. Will wouldn't even look at them, Bill wasn't kidding when he said Will had low self-esteem. Hoping to try and calm the boy down, Dipper spoke up softly. "Hello Will. I'm Dipper, and this is my twin sister Mabel."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Will." Mabel smiled brightly at him.

Will nodded towards the two in acknowledgment though he still refused to look them in the eyes. "Yeah. You too."

"So Bill, is there anything in specific you two want to do?" Dipper asked. While he loved swimming, he didn't do it often. It got boring pretty quickly, after all.

"Hm, you got any ideas Will?" 

"W-we could just sit.."

"Nah, that's boring Will. No one wants to sit, especially when it's as hot as it is now." Bill rested his head in his hand as he tried to think of something for all of them to do. Will wasn't much of a swimmer, now that he thought about it, but Will did love playing games. When they were kids, Will's favorite game was playing hide and seek. Suddenly an idea came to mind, and Bill snapped his fingers. "I got it! Why don't we play Marco Polo?"

"Oh! I love that game!" Mabel cheered, "But who is going to be Marco?"

"I think maybe Will should be it." Dipper commented. While putting Will on the spot like that may not have been the best idea, he figured it would help him more than anything. It seemed Will had an issue with looking at people directly, so maybe by giving him the chance to play with them with his eyes closed, Will could grow a bit more comfortable around them without being scared.

"I don't think I'd make a good Marco." Will whimpered, rubbing at his arm nervously. 

"Come on Will, just give it a chance. If you don't like it, we'll stop playing. Okay?" Bill put his hand on Will's shoulder reassuringly. 

Will sighs, knowing he was beat. "Okay. I'll play."

\-----------------------------------

When the four started their game, Bill was thankful that the pool wasn't very crowded today. In fact, they were the only ones there aside from a few adults, though they chose to rest in the sun rather than swim like the four of them. Bill helped his twin swim to the center of the pool, "Remember Will, you have to keep your eyes closed until you tag someone."

"B-But what if I can't? Then I'll always be Marco!" Will whimpered. 

"It's okay Will, if you can't tag anyone, we'll go easy on you. How does that sound?"

"Do you promise?"

"I promise, Will."

"Okay. I'm ready." Will whispers, closing his eye in the process.

"Good."

After double checking that his twin was fine, Bill caught up over to Dipper. "So, what do you think of my brother?" Bill asks, hooking an arm around his boyfriend as Will started counting to ten.

"He seems nice," Dipper tells him, finding Bill's gesture to be more than comforting. "It's hard to believe the two of you are brothers. You must be so close."

"We are, I'm always looking after him."

"That's sweet Bill." Dipper smiles, giving the blonde a quick peck on the lips. Bill blushed at this and nuzzled Dipper's neck affectionately. 

"Well, that's just the kind of guy I am, Pine tree."

"...A-and ten!" Will calls out, almost too quiet for the others to hear.

"Marco?"

"Polo!" The three called to him, before spreading out. All three of them stood at other ends of the pool, Mabel near the stairs, Dipper near the center, and Bill being near the end. 

At the sound of everyone's voices clashing together, Will nearly jumped. He wasn't expecting them to be quite that loud, but then realized that they had to be in order for him to find his way to them. From what he heard, Dipper was closest to him. 

Will put his arms out in front of him, as he blindly followed the voices. "Marco?" He called again.

"Polo!"

This time, Will was certain that Dipper was to his left, so he followed that. 

"Be careful, Will. You're getting close to the wall." Dipper assures him, making sure that the blue-haired pre-teen didn't harm himself. 

"O-oh. Thank you." Will pauses, swimming back just a tad.

"Hey, come on Dip' dot! You know the rules, you can only respond with Polo when he calls out to us." Mabel pursed her lips. Dipper laughed at this, Mabel was always trying to make sure they stuck to the rules.

"Sorry Mabes, I just don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Whatever bro bro," Mabel teases.

"U-um..Marco?" Will called out once more, hoping to keep the game going.

"Polo," the four called out. Now Will figured Mabel was the closest, just a little bit up ahead of him. 

Will swam forwards, pressing his hands out in hopes of finding someone. To his surprise, his fingertips brushed against something soft.

"D-Did I tag someone?" Will asks, hope hinting in his voice.

"Yep!" Mabel snorted. "You caught me!"

"I did?" Will opens his eyes, and sure enough his hand was touching Mabel's shoulder. "Sorry.."

"What? Don't be sorry, Will! You did great!" Mabel smiled at him.

"Do you really think that?" Will's eyes widened. No one except for Bill and their father had ever told him he did good before.

"Yeah. Wow Will, that was really fast too." Dipper swims up to him with Bill following close behind. "You're really good at this game. I envy you for that, I'm not nearly as fast and efficient as you are with this."

Will looks over at his twin, who was flashing him a thumbs up. "See? My brother's great at games."

To say that Will was surprised would be an understatement. He couldn't believe that he had actually tagged someone, and that everyone was praising him for it. A small blush spread across his cheeks, "...Thank you." He whispered with a soft smile.

The four pre-teens continued to play for a while, before counting Mabel as the ultimate winner of the game, only being tagged twice unlike the rest of the group who had been caught multiple times. While they were having fun, the game started to get a bit boring as time wore on.

"I'm bored." Bill whined. "Is there anything else we can do to pass the time?"

"Well, Mabel and I brought some water guns, if you guys want to play that." Dipper tilted his head. Mabel had always insisted on playing with them whenever they had gone to the pool. It didn't surprise him really, seeing how much Mabel loved to run around. It wasn't Dipper's favorite game, mostly because he had horrible aim, but it could be fun if they did a team battle.

"We could play as teams maybe?"

"That actually sounds f-fun." Will nodded, much to everyone's surprise.

"Sure, Will. How about we have Will and Shooting Star on one team, and me and Pine tree on the other?"

"No twin teams?" Mabel asked, she didn't mind playing on the same side as the youngest twin, though she was surprised that Bill didn't seem to want to.

"We could, but I want Will to play with someone besides me. I want him to get used to other people, and I think by having him play with you, he could learn something."

"Alright! We're going to be Team Kittens! What do you say Will?" Mabel held her hand high in the air. Will smiled softly and nodded. "Y-yeah. I like kittens." He reached up and gave her a high five.

"Team kittens?" Dipper raises a brow.

"Uh, duh bro bro! Kittens are the cutest!"

"I can't argue with that." Dipper sighed fondly. Mabel was something else, that's for sure.

"Well what about our team?" Bill looked at Dipper with a questioning look.

"What?"

"Our team name. Maybe something like Gold Team?"

Dipper shook his head. "Whatever you want it to be Bill. I don't really care either way."

"Okay, then we'll make it Team Bill." 

"...We're sticking with Gold Team."

"Aw what? What's wrong with Team Bill?" 

"You're full of yourself, Bill." Dipper laughed.

"Of course I am! I'm pretty great, if you haven't noticed."

"Oh shut it, Bill." Dipper leans over, giving Bill a kiss on the lips to quiet the blonde. Bill eagerly returned the kiss, and wrapped his arms around Dipper's waist in order to pull him closer.

After a full minute of watching the two press their lips together sweetly, Mabel coughed, hoping to break the two apart.

"Come on you two, if you're going to be smooching it up the whole time then Will and I can just play by ourselves."

Dipper quickly pulled back, much to Bill's disappointment. His face flushed darkly. "Sorry about that."

"Whatever Dipper," Mabel teased, elbowing him in the arm. "Let's play! Oh! Maybe we can use the tables as shields!"

"I like your thinking Shooting Star!" Bill laughed. "That'll make it twice as hard!"

"B-but what if we get in trouble for doing that?" Will frowned. He didn't want the lifeguard to yell at them.

"It'll be fine, Will. As long as we put them back when we're done. Besides, it's not like anyone is using them at the moment." Bill reassured him.

"If you say so. I still don't think t-this is a good idea."

"Just trust me, it'll be fine."

Will nodded. "Okay."

Dipper hummed in thought. "What if we tried to make it more interesting?"

"How so?" Mabel looked at him with a questioning look.

"What if we tie some flags to a chair next to our tables, and whatever team manages to steal the other's flag and bring it back to their own base wins?"

"Do we even have flags?" Bill rose a brow.

"Not really flags, but we can use our towels."

"That would work." Bill nodded in agreement. "Will and I have two different colored towels, mine is yellow while Will's is a baby blue. The colors can represent our teams."

"That's perfect. Okay, let's go ahead and set everything up."

\-----------------------------------

Once the tables were put on the ground for their defenses, and the "flags" were set on the chairs that guarded them, the two teams were finally ready to begin. It started out easy enough, both Bill and Mabel were battling head to head. Each were probably perfectly matched, though Bill seemed to be a bit more evasive than Mabel was. Dipper on the other hand had a bit of trouble. It took Will a little while to stop hiding behind the table, which Dipper reasoned it was because he was still trying to get comfortable with them, but when he did, both Will and Dipper had a bit of trouble trying to shoot each other.

With both of them only having one eye, the two's vision were completely off. It made Dipper wonder how Bill was so good at it, but he figured Bill probably had more practice at these kinds of things than either of them. Normally Dipper would stand next to Bill to cover his blind spot, but in this kind of game, even their signature stance wouldn't help them, not to mention even if it did, it wouldn't be fair for Will.  
Aside from their vision, Will's timid personality prevented him from pressing the toy gun's trigger hard enough, so the water would shoot out only half way.

The blue-haired pre-teen only looked up for a split second before Dipper had managed to successfully spray him with water on the smaller's neck. The action prompted a small squeak from Will.  
"Sorry Will!" Dipper called out to him.

"I-It's okay!" Will wiped the water off of his neck, before hiding back under the table.

Mabel pulled away from her battle with Bill and hid with Will.

"Hey Will, I have an idea."

"What's that?"

"Well if we keep this up, nobody will be able to get anyone's flag. So I want you to walk over to them and cause a distraction, it doesn't matter what it is, just something that will keep them occupied while I sneak over and steal their flag!"

"A-Are you sure? T-they might see you, and then leaving ours unguarded.."

"It'll be fine! Sometimes in war, you have to take risks!"

"Okay..if you say so, Mabel."

"Great! Good luck, Will!"

"Yeah, you two." Will gulped as Mabel had already walked away, trying to find a way to get over to Dipper and Bill's base without getting caught. He was alone for now, and he had no idea how to even cause a distraction. But he had to try, he didn't want to disappoint the energetic girl.

Once he gathered his courage, Bill stepped out from the table and began walking towards his brother and Bill's boyfriend, much to Bill's surprise.

"What is he doing?" 

"I'm not sure." Dipper rose a brow and put his gun down. Maybe something was wrong? Did Will want to stop playing?

"H-hey you two! I-" Will started, though his sentence was immediately cut off by a yelp as he slipped on a puddle of water, falling to the ground.

"Will!" Bill got up and ran towards his brother. "Are you okay Will?" He asked as he pulled his younger twin up from the ground.

Both Dipper and Mabel had stopped in their tracks, and in concern for Will's safety, immediately abandoned the game and walked over besides Bill.

"I-I think so.." Will sniffed, rubbing his eye. "M-my knee hurts, Bill." 

"Here, let me take a look at it." Bill hooked Will's arm over his head and helped his brother by walking him over to a chair, prompting him to sit.

Once Will was comfortable, Bill looked down at Will's knees, noticing that they were scraped up with a bit of blood.

"Oh dang." Dipper commented. "It doesn't look too bad, but are you okay Will?"

"I guess so, but it really stings." Will whimpered, his body trembling. He never could take pain very well, and the sight of blood scared him.

"Hang on Will. I got just the thing!" Mabel told him. She ran over to grab her bag, and in it she pulled out a bag of stickers and band-aids. "Here we go!" Once she returned to the three, Mabel had pulled out two colorful band-aids, one blue and one purple. "If we put these on your wounds, you'll feel all better."

"R-really?" 

"Of course!" Mabel smiled, before gently placing the band-aids on Will's injuries. Will flinched a bit from the pain, but stayed quiet. 

"How does that feel?" Dipper asked. 

"Better..it still hurts, but not as much." Will nodded. 

"And for being such a good patient, Doctor Mabel is going to give you your very own sticker!" She pulled out a big sticker of a puppy with the words "Hope you feel PET-ter soon!" on it, and stuck it on Will's cheek.  
"There, now don't you look adorable?"

Will blushed, surprised by everyone's sincerity. From his past experience, other kids would have told him to suck it up and make fun of him until Bill came and stopped them, but Dipper and Mabel had been so kind to him the whole time. They always made sure that he was doing okay, and Dipper had tried his best to make sure that Will didn't hurt himself. Mabel even offered to help him when he did, and Will could barely hold his surprise. A heartfelt smile formed on Will's face as he nodded. "Thank you!"

\-----------------------------------

After a few hours, the sun had started to set, putting an end to Bill and Will's time with Dipper and Mabel. Their adoptive father, Tad, had finally came to pick them up. On their way home, Tad had asked if the two kids had any fun.

"Yeah, we had a lot of fun dad. Will and I played Marco polo with everyone and then we played with some water guns. You should have seen Will though, he was having so much fun!"

"Is that so, little ones?" Tad pulls the cigarette from his mouth and snuffs it out before turning to look at the two kids in the back seats. "And what about you Will? Did you have as much fun as your brother says you did?"

Will looked into their father's eyes and gave a small nod. "Y-yes, dad. Mabel and Dipper were really nice the whole time..I got hurt, but everyone made me feel better afterwards."  
This made Tad sigh in relief. He had always been worried about his sons, especially Will. While Bill seemed to be strong, he remained concerned for Will as the young boy hardly got out of the house. He had tried many times to find the younger twin a friend of his own to play with, but the kids of Gravity Falls were a bit much for Will to handle. Thankfully though, it would seem that he could stop worrying now, as Will finally found a friend in Dipper and Mabel. Friends that he shared with Bill, as well. He had a feeling that their friendship would have a good impact on Will.

"Good, now let's get you little ones home. It's past dinner time."

"Okay dad." Both Bill and Will smiled at him.

\-----------------------------------

Later that night, the Cipher twins were curled up together in Bill's bed. They didn't always sleep together, but when they did, it somehow managed to put both of them to sleep easily. Bill wondered if Dipper did that with Mabel sometimes. He was fairly certain he did, considering how well he got along with her, but he made a mental note to ask later. Right now, Bill was too tired to give a care in the world.  
He was so proud of Will. Not only did he put back his fears and come with him to the pool, but he had actually tried his best to get along with Dipper and Mabel as well. Bill couldn't be happier.

"...Hey Bill?" Will spoke out quietly, looking up at his brother.

"Yeah Will?"

"Thank you..for making me come with you. You were right, I-I had a lot of fun."

"Good." Bill smiled, pulling Will closer to him as they wrapped the blankets around them. "Does that mean you want to do it again sometime?"

"Yes. I..I think so anyways."

"I'm so proud of you, Will. Let's get some sleep now, okay?"

"Okay. Good night brother."

Bill smiled, resting his head against Will's hair. "Good night, brother." He whispered back, closing his eye as sleep took over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did you guys like this chapter? Poor Will just needs a hug  
> The next chapter will be focusing on Dipper and Mabel's relationship as twins, but don't worry! Both Will and Bill will still make an appearance in it!


	8. Love can Heal All Wounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upon Bill's request, Dipper and Mabel decide to pay Bill and Will a visit at their house, where they meet Tad Strange, the Cipher twins' adoptive father, and watch Steven Universe together. Everything was perfect. At least it was before Dipper and Mabel broke out in a fight. Dipper remains unsure of himself, and Mabel tries to find a way to make it up to her brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Mincci here with another update. This chapter ended up being longer than expected, so I hope you guys like it!
> 
> Shout out to Criminals_code for giving me the idea for this chapter. Thanks so much!
> 
> Slight spoiler warnings for the Steven Universe episode, "Earthlings"  
> Disclaimer: Steven Universe and characters belong entirely to Rebecca Sugar

It wasn't meant to be like this. What was originally meant to be a great day turned into something so unexpected that Dipper could hardly believe it. But despite how much he wished he could turn a blind eye to it, the fact of the matter was that Dipper was pissed. 

It all started that morning, Dipper had received a text from his boyfriend asking him if he and Mabel would like to come over to his house to hang out with him and Will again, as well as meet their father. It was a last minute notice, but Dipper said he'd ask his Grunkle. Mabel was all too excited to get the chance to play with the other twins again, and Dipper was looking forward to it too.

He was happy that Mabel got along with them so well. Considering how Mabel sometimes crushed on guys that Dipper couldn't necessarily agree with, whether they were plain creepy or were jerks just trying to use her to their advantage, Dipper was always worrying about his sister. It seemed she had a natural habit with befriending odd guys, and he silently wondered if he was the same. 

From the looks of it though, his worries were nothing but that. While Bill did have a personality that could be a bit much at times, he and his brother were overall nice guys. It made him happy to know that he finally found friends that he shared with his sister. While Dipper had no problems with any of Mabel's friends before, he couldn't really find himself connecting to them. That could be due to the fact that they'd spend their time talking gossip, discussing their favorite boy bands, and doing makeovers on each other.

Definitely not something Dipper himself could enjoy. 

With them sharing the same friends, it gave them the chance to stay close with each other. They may have had their differences but the two siblings were closer than night and day. They didn't like to be apart from each other for too long, as weird as that sounded.

So naturally, Mabel and Dipper had rushed to the kitchen that morning in hopes of asking their Grunkle if they could have the day off from working at the shack in order to see the Cipher twins.

"Pretty please Grunkle Stan?" Mabel pleaded with her hands clasped together. "Pretty please with a triple scoop of strawberry and vanilla ice cream and a cherry on top?"

To their surprise, Stan had actually agreed, albeit reluctantly.

"Alright, alright. You kids are going to be the death of me." Stan groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Yes!" Mabel and Dipper cheered with a high five.

"But you're making it up to me with extra hours tomorrow." 

"Sounds fair enough." Dipper shrugged. "When can we go?"

"I'll take you after breakfast. The shop is going to be opening in an hour so if you're going it'll have to be soon."

"I'll tell Bill." Dipper nodded and pulled out his phone. With a quick text to his boyfriend, and a confirmation that coming early was alright, Dipper smiled. "He said that was fine."

"Okay. I'll pick you up at around..." Stan held up his wrist and narrowed his eyes as he tried to get a good look at the time. "six. Where does he live?"

"He lives right off the square, next to the arcade and the cafe."

Stan grunted in acknowledgement before he handed the twins each a plate full of pancakes. "There you go kids, have some pancakes."

"Don't you mean STANcakes?" Mabel snorted and shot Grunkle Stan a finger gun. This caused the older man to chuckle. "Stancakes, huh? I like that sweetie!" Stan chuckled and ruffled his great niece's hair playfully.

With that, the three ate breakfast and headed off to Bill's house. Before the twins could get out of the car, Stan looked at them sternly. "Now I want you kids to be on your best behavior, okay? I don't want to have to deal with an angry parent."

"We will Grunkle Stan! We promise!" Mabel smiled and practically dragged Dipper out of the car towards the door.

"Bill? Will? We're here." Dipper called out, knocking on the door. When it opened to reveal a tall well groomed man, Dipper could honestly say he was surprised. He looked so relatively normal. His attire consisted of a white dress shirt tucked securely in his black slacks. Part of his black hair was combed back yet it still held a natural curl over his brows. In all honesty, even despite how professional his clothes were, he was actually quite handsome with his sharp features.

"Hello there, are you Bill's friends?" Tad asked, his pale blue-gray eyes locked onto the twins.

"Yep! That's us!" Mabel smiled and held out her hand for him to take. "It's nice to meet you!"

Tad smiled back politely and took hold of her hand, giving it a firm shake. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you as well." He turned his gaze towards Dipper, who rubbed his arm awkwardly. He was eager to make a good impression considering this was Bill's dad after all. The last thing he wanted to do was mess up.

"So you're Bill's boyfriend, is that correct?"

"Y-yes sir." Dipper nodded.

"Sir? Please, call me Tad. Tad Strange, at your service." He bows at them, causing Dipper to smile. This man was certainly unique. He could see a small hint of Bill's personality lying in him, though it seemed Tad was more calm as compared to Bill's wild side. 

"Well, come on inside. The boys should be in their room." With that, Tad allowed the two children to come in his home. Dipper couldn't help but stare in awe at his surroundings. Bill's home was incredibly clean. It mostly consisted of white furniture and glass tables. A large flat screen television rested on a white desk in the center of the living room. For as simple as it was, it also looked fancy. Dipper could only imagine how many times a day the house was cleaned after in order for it to stay as neat as it was. From what he could see, there wasn't a single stain anywhere. It was a stark comparison to his home at the Mystery Shack, which was filled with all kinds of molds and strange novelties from Stan's shop. 

"Your home is very beautiful." Dipper told Tad, which earned a smile from the older man. 

"Thank you, Dipper. If you wouldn't mind, would you two please take your shoes off and leave them by the door?"

"Of course." Dipper nodded as he and Mabel placed their shoes by the entrance. Dipper wasn't surprised by the request, it seemed Tad was very serious about keeping things clean. He made a mental note to himself to always pick up after himself when he was here.

"So you're Bill and Will's Dad? You're so young! And you have different last names!" Mabel asked. Dipper's eye widened, he was afraid that Tad would have been offended by Mabel's bluntness, but Tad merely shook his head and chuckled.

"I am their father, but I adopted them both from an orphanage when they were about five years old."

"They were adopted?" Dipper found himself questioning him. "I had no idea. Bill never mentioned it before."

"Well, perhaps that's because of how close we are. They may not be my sons by blood, but they are without a doubt my children." Tad smiled, thinking back fondly of the day he first met the two twins. They had been pitiful, really. With the other orphans always picking on them, Bill had gained a rough personality while Will would cling to his brother. 

It had taken them a bit of time to get used to their new home, but it didn't take too long for the two siblings to adjust to their new fatherly figure. After years of supporting them physically and morally, Will and Bill had grown to see Tad as their real father, even if they had no idea who their blood parents were.

Shaking the thoughts away, Tad looked at the brunettes. "I'll show you to their room, please follow me."

With that, Dipper and Mabel eagerly followed Tad upstairs, where Tad knocked on the door. "Bill? Will? Your friends are here."

"Coming dad!" Dipper could hear Bill's voice from behind the door, and when it opened Dipper could only smile at the sight. Bill and Will had been wearing matching sweaters. Bill's was a bright yellow with a single eye on the front, bricked patterns and a stitched on bow tie below it. Will's was relatively the same although his was the same shade of blue as his hair and holding a picture of a crying eye on the front. Will was currently hiding behind Bill with his head peeking out from the corner.

"Hey Pine tree, hey shooting Star!" Bill grinned at them.

"Hey Bill." Dipper nodded back, "How are you doing Will?"

Will squeaked and clutched his brother's sweater with a firm grip. "I-I'm okay.." he sniffed.

"That's good." Dipper gave him a gentle smile in reassurance.

"Will? Bill? I need to get to work now. I trust you two to be good while I'm out." Tad told them.

"Okay dad." Bill nodded in response. 

"H-have a good day at work, dad." Will timidly looked into Tad's eyes. 

"Thank you. I'll be back in a few hours. I made you and your friends some sandwiches in case you get hungry. They're in the fridge."

"What kind are they?" Bill asked, even though he already ate breakfast, he could still feel his stomach growling at the thought. Tad was a wonderful cook and made the best sandwiches.

"Turkey and peanut butter, just how you like two like them." 

"Great! Thanks dad!"

"Remember, call me if you need anything. I'll see you later after work." Tad waved a goodbye at them before heading off.

"Where does your dad work?" Mabel asked.

"He's the CEO at the car dealership." Will spoke up and hesitantly removed himself from his brother's side.

"Sounds important." Dipper comments, it definitely seemed like a professional job. It matched Tad, if Dipper had to guess. 

Bill nodded in agreement. "Dad said when we're old enough he'd do his best to get us a sweet deal on some cars. How cool is that?"

"That's great!" Mabel smiled excitedly. "What kind of car do you want?"

"I'm not sure Shooting Star, I haven't thought too much on it. But enough about cars, I hear about them too much as it is. Do you guys want to watch TV? Will has been begging me to watch one of the newer episode of Steven Universe with him. I think it's called Earthlings."

"Oh my gosh! Shut up!" Mabel squealed. "I LOVE Steven Universe!" She ran over to Will and grasped his hands, causing the blue-haired teen to flinch.

"Who's your favorite character?" 

"A-amethyst." Will whispered. He loved Amethyst, truly. She was beautiful, and he often felt like he could connect with her at times. 

"Mine is Steven! He's such a cutie." Mabel giggled and looked at Bill. "What about you Bill?"

"I never thought too much on it, but if I had to pick one, I'd say it'd be Peridot."

"Oh, Peridot is cute too. Dipper likes Pearl the most, but Peridot is his close second."

"Really now?" Bill turned to look at his boyfriend, who flushed at the attention. "Yeah, I love all of them really but Pearl is kind of unique in my opinion. I like her a lot."

"It suits you, Pine tree. So, let's go." Bill lead the three downstairs and switched on the television where a recorded episode of Steven Universe started to play.

Bill happily sat himself on the couch next to Dipper and Will, with Mabel on the opposite end. He placed his hand on Dipper's leg, causing the brunette to blush. Dipper found himself holding hands with Bill as he leaned in on the blonde, with Bill's head resting on Dipper's shoulder.

The four watched in silence as Steven, Amethyst, and Peridot find Jasper. Dipper let out a snort when Peridot attempted to attack Jasper with her metallic powers, but failed.

Will let out a few sniffles at Steven's speech, feeling pitiful for the two gems and their weaker self-esteem.

"Will, it's okay." Bill whispered to him. "Watch."

Will turned his gaze from his brother to look back at the screen, and sure enough, Steven's words had touched Amethyst, and the two managed to fuse into Smokey Quartz.

"Wow.." Mabel gasped as the episode came to an end. "I can't believe how pretty Smokey Quartz is! So cute!"

Will nodded in agreement. "Y-yeah..I think Smokey Quartz is my new favorite fusion."

"Mine too, Will." Mabel smiled at him. 

"I still think Sardonyx is the coolest." Bill shrugged. "But Smokey Quartz is amazing too."

Dipper snorted. He would like Sardonyx the best. In some way, Bill's personality was almost exactly like hers. It was suiting for him, really.

"How about you Pine tree?"

"Well, I guess I'd have to say Garnet is my favorite."

"Oh, speaking of Garnet! Bro, I have the coolest idea!"

"What is it?"

"Well, I heard from Candy and Grenda that Summerween is coming up."

"...Summerween?" Dipper rose a brow in confusion.

"It's a holiday." Will confirmed. "The people of Gravity Falls really like Halloween so we all decided to celebrate it twice a year. I-it's coming up in two weeks."

"Well that's strange, but cool." Dipper smiled. "So what's your idea, Mabes?"

"You should dress up as Sapphire!"

"Sapphire? Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No, not really." Dipper frowned.

"Because bro, you both only have one eye."

"...Wait what?" Dipper narrowed his eye at her.

"Well I mean who else could you be? You can't be Pearl, she has two eyes." Mabel snorted, rolling her eyes as though the answer was obvious. This caused Dipper to fume in anger. He couldn't believe what his sister had just said.

"Mabel! My lack of two eyes isn't something you can just pull out into conversation like that!"

"Why not? I don't see the problem." Mabel frowned and tilted her head in confusion.

"Because you can't just expect someone with only one eye to want to turn something as traumatizing as this into- into some sort of costume! Not to mention, just because I don't have a second eye doesn't mean I can't be Pearl if I wanted to! Who are you to say who I can or can't dress up as?" Dipper snapped, causing Will to flinch in fear at the tone of his voice. Bill looked at Dipper in shock. 

"Hey, Pine tree, calm down, it's okay." Bill spoke calmly, trying to soothe his boyfriend. While he didn't agree with Mabel's words at all, and found them more than a little bit offensive, seeing as how he and Will only had one eye too, he didn't want to start a fight. Especially not when Will was just starting to get used to his new friends.

"Bro! What's going on? Why are you so mad at me? I was just trying to think of a cute costume for you."

"I'm mad because you just-!" Dipper groaned. "I need some fresh air!" He hissed and walked to the door. With haste, he put on his shoes and rushed outside before anyone could stop him.

Bill let out a whistle. "Wow, Shooting Star. You've really made him angry. I've never seen him mad before."

"W-what should we do?" Will sniffs, hiding his face behind his long sleeves.

"You two stay here. I'll go with Pine tree and make sure he's safe."

"What? I'm going with you!" Mabel stood up.

"I don't think that's the best idea, Shooting Star." Bill glared at her. "After what you said, I think Dipper needs some time alone. I'll bring him back when he's calmed down but I think you should apologize to him."  
With that, Bill got up and left Will and Mabel on their own.

\--------------------------------------

And that was how Dipper found himself walking to the end of the street in hopes of putting some distance from the house the held his sister in.

"Pine tree, wait!" Dipper looked back to find his boyfriend running after him. Dipper paused in his tracks and sighed.

"I'm not going back, Bill. Not right now. I just need a moment."

"That's okay, Pine tree. I'm just here to comfort you."

"..Thank you, Bill." Dipper looked down at the ground before pulling Bill into a tight hug, which the blonde pre-teen returned with a pat on the back. 

"It's okay Pine tree. I'm sorry about what your sister said. That was uncalled for."

"I just don't get it. Mabel knows better than anyone how traumatic that experience was for us. She knows better than to say something like that to me..so why did she say it?"

"I don't know, but don't listen to her, Pine tree."

"Why shouldn't I?" Dipper whispered out, feeling a tear fall down his cheek.

Bill pulled back from the hug and wiped the tear from his eye. "Because she's wrong. You shouldn't have to be Sapphire just because you have one eye. It'd be the same for me and Will. So what if we all only have one eye? That's not going to stop us from doing what we want." He kissed Dipper's cheek in reassurance.

"I don't know Bill..I know you're right, but I'm still upset about it." Dipper frowned and grasped Bill's hand with his own.

"That's okay, you have every right to be mad. Why don't we go to the cafe and get something to drink real quick?"

"Do you think it's okay to leave Mabel and Will by themselves?"

"Yeah, they'll be fine, I promise. Come on, I'll buy you a muffin, yeah?"

Dipper snorted softly. "Alright, but I'm paying. Not you."

"We'll see about that, Pine tree."

\--------------------------------------

Back at the house, Mabel grew more worried with each passing second.

"H-he'll be okay, Mabel." Will mumbled, trying to cheer her up.

"I guess so, but I feel awful." Mabel looked down in response. "I can't believe I didn't even consider how Dipper might feel about it."

"Well..why don't you apologize to him? Even if you made him mad, y-you guys can always make up..you're twins after all." Will sniffed and rubbed his eye. He really didn't want his new friends to be upset. Bill had promised that they would have fun, and they were, but now everything was so chaotic. Will wasn't sure how to deal with it. One thing for certain though, he didn't want his friends to fight. Especially when they obviously loved each other. He needed to find a way to get the two to make up soon, because friends and family shouldn't be mad at each other. 

"You don't understand, Will. Dipper's something else. He hardly ever gets angry, especially at family, but when he does, he doesn't forgive easily. He holds grudges."

"Then you have to make it up to him."

"But how?" 

"I-I mean..if saying sorry won't work on its own, then you need to step in our shoes. Me and Bill only have one eye too, so we know how Dipper feels. I think you should try to look from his side. Even if you know you were wrong..." Will hiccupped and rubbed the tear from his eye. "A-and all, how could you ever hope to know how we feel?"

Mabel slowly nodded. "Yeah, you're right Will. I don't know what it's like for you guys..but how could I ever hope to understand?"

"I think I have an idea." Will looked at her seriously.

\--------------------------------------

Dipper sat with Bill at a small table outside of the local cafe, which thankfully was only down the street from Bill's house. The two were currently snacking on a few donuts that they had bought, deciding to split the price since they were both too stubborn to let one pay for the other.

"I'm sorry about this Bill. I know you and Will just wanted to hang out and have fun, and me and Mabel got into an argument and ruined your day."

"What? You guys didn't ruin our day, Pine tree."

"Are you sure about that?" Dipper furrowed his brows. 

"Of course. Besides, we can still have fun. You can't be mad at your sister forever, Pine tree."

"I know I can't, I just can't find it in myself to forgive her right now." Dipper growled, taking a bite into his donut and puffed out his cheeks. "Not until she apologizes and means it."

"She will. I'm sure of it. You two are really close, there's no way you could stay mad at each other for long."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. It's just..I know we both only have one eye, but that doesn't mean we're defective..does it?"

"What? Of course not!" Bill's eye widened. "Don't you dare think that for a second, Pine tree. You already are perfect. We all are."

"But how can society view us as anything else but imperfect?"

"Society sucks, in case you haven't noticed." Bill snorted. "They try to act like they can control everyone but they can't. We don't need them, Pine tree."

Upon hearing Bill's words, Dipper immediately thought back to the Steven Universe episode they had seen only a little bit ago. 

It was strange how..similar today's events played out to be compared to that episode. Almost like parallel, when he thought about it. Amethyst was dealing with her judgment about being different from the other gems, weaker than the rest, and Steven managed to cheer her up. Meanwhile Dipper was concerned about how society viewed him as imperfect, and Bill was trying to comfort him.

"You're right." Dipper slowly nodded.

"Besides, you do have two eyes."

"What?" Dipper looked up at him with confusion.

"You got me Pine tree!" Bill winked at him. Or at least he tried to, but Dipper could recognize it all the same. "Don't you remember? We are each other's second eye."

This rendered Dipper speechless. He was shocked. Out of all the things Bill had said to him, this was one struck him with a new understanding, a new type of fondness.

Dipper shook his head and smiled weakly. "We make up for our imperfections, right?" He asked, rubbing the tear out of his eye.

"Right." Bill nodded his head in confirmation and leaned over the table to kiss Dipper.

Who cares what society viewed them as? They didn't matter. No one did. The only thing that mattered was them, and everyone who they loved. The rest of the world may have viewed them as being disfigured, but to Dipper and Bill, they were perfect. Especially when they were together. When Dipper was with Bill, he felt as though he could finally stop worrying about how everyone else viewed him, because he wasn't the only one. Bill knew exactly what it felt like, and so did Will.

Together, all three of them could support each other with their friends and family. That was all that mattered.

\--------------------------------------

Mabel and Will had spent the past few hours walking around town, trying to look for their twins. During their search, Mabel couldn't help but notice all of the negative attention she would receive. Not only would she keep tripping and bumping into things, but the citizens around them would look at her with distaste, wondering what on Earth was wrong with her.

Nothing was wrong with her. What people were silently judging her on was the fact that she was wearing an eye patch around one of her eyes. Why? Well, it was Will's idea.

When the blue-haired teen had suggested Mabel stepping into their shoes, Mabel was delighted with the plan that Will had come up with. The smaller boy had suggested that she wore an eye patch for the rest of the day, successfully blinding half of her vision, and walk around town with it. This way she could get a feel of how hard it was to see or do anything without tripping or being criticized by everyone.

It was working. While they were searching, Mabel finally realized just how hard it was for her brother. Apparently only being able to see with one eye was a lot harder than it looked. 

Now Mabel considered herself a confident girl, but even she had a hard time dealing with the glares she had received from the other kids and even teenagers and adults.

They may not have known why she was wearing an eye patch, but to them, it looked incredibly stupid.

The brunette found that she didn't care. Even if it did hurt a bit, the only thing that mattered was her brother. 

"M-Mabel, I'm scared." Will sniffed and clutched the sleeve of Mabel's pink sweater tight. "W-what if we get hurt? or lost?" Will's eye widened and he started to cry. "T-Then I'll never see my brother again! You won't get to apologize to Dipper and then everyone will be upset and then we'll-"

Mabel stopped in her tracks and looked at Will with worry. "Will! Will, calm down. You're okay." She cut the boy off before he could think about any more sad things.

"But I've never been outside the house without Bill or dad.." Will whimpered.

"I know, but I'm here with you. We're not going to get lost, okay? If you want, we can head back to your house right now. They might be there waiting for us anyways."

"Yes please..anything to go home where it's safe."

Mabel nodded in agreement and started to walk back with the blue-haired teen, only to halt in her tracks when two boys stood in front of them. 

"What in the world?"One of them, a pudgy boy, looked at them with disgust.

"Oh gross! Are you telling me there's ANOTHER freak without an eye in this town? Isn't three of them enough!?" The other, a kid with black hair and a freckled angular face, questioned them.

"Excuse me?" Mabel clenched her fists as she glared at them.

"M-Mabel..we should go." Will whispered, but squeaked when the two males' eyes landed on him. 

"Oh, if it isn't cry baby Will?" The chubby man scoffed. "What are you doing outside? Without your brother too? What, did he finally decide to ditch a loser like you?"

"M-my brother wouldn't ever ditch me!" Will sobbed and hid behind Mabel.

"Why wouldn't he? You're both lame as it is." The black-haired teen spoke up.

"Dudes! What is your problem?!" Mabel hissed out. "Leave Will alone!"

"Do you honestly think we're going to listen to another one-eyed freak like you, cupcake?" Mabel shivered in disgust at the nickname.

"Don't call me cupcake, you bully."

"We'll call you whatever we want."

"...Mabel?" The sound of her brother's voice caused Mabel to turn around. She sighed in relief as she saw her twin with his arms linked with Bill's.

"Shooting Star? What's going on?" Bill questioned, before catching sight of the two men before them. Bill immediately recognized the two boys from the time Dipper was being picked on at the Mystery Shack before Bill had sent their leader to summer camp.

"Will, come over here." 

Will didn't need to be told twice, he immediately rushed to his brother's arms and wept in his sweater. 

"B-brother, I'm scared!"

"It's okay Will, I won't let them hurt you." Bill released Dipper's arm and trailed his fingers through Will's hair soothingly.

The two bullies locked eyes with Dipper and Bill, and frowned. "Hey I remember that kid! You and your stupid boyfriend sent Trey to summer camp! What is wrong with you guys?!"

"What's wrong with us?" Dipper frowned. "What's wrong with you? I was just minding my own business when you guys decided to bully me for no reason! And now you're trying to bully my sister and Will too? Don't you guys ever stop?"

"Oh please, Cyclops." The pudgy man rolled his eyes as Dipper flinched at the name. "Don't act like you weren't doing anything wrong. You guys are just a waste of space! Filling up our world with your disgusting-"  
Before the boy could finish his sentence, Mabel punched him, hard. Hard enough for the boy's tooth to fall out.

"Don't you ever speak to that way to my brother or my friends again!" Mabel yelled, yanking off her eye patch. "I may have two eyes, but I know for sure that they are wonderful people! I spent the past few hours walking around with this eye patch to try and see what it was like for them, and after seeing this? I understand now. If this is what they have to deal with when they step outside, then..it's just not fair."

Dipper gasped, tears coming to his eye as his sister stood up for him. He was so happy..Mabel had not only stood up for him, Will, and Bill, but she had also been walking around town with the eye patch on just so she could make it up to him.

That touched his heart.

Bill pulled Will off of him gently and walked over to stand by Mabel.

"Charles, Daniel, I suggest you back off." He glared at them. "I think you both know that I'm capable of more than you could ever give credit for. If you two don't leave now, then I can assure you that Trey won't be the only one who ends up gone for the summer."

This seemed to snap the bullies out of their rage. As much as they wanted to pick a fight, they knew Bill was right. Bill wouldn't even have to lift a finger in order to play the cards in his favor and make the two boys regret their actions immediately. Not to mention, it was clear to them that they were severely outnumbered.

"..Alright, Cipher. We'll leave this time. But next time it won't be so easy." The black-haired teen, Daniel, glared at them before the two boys pulled back and left the pair of twins alone.

Will sighed in relief when everyone finally calmed down, though he was still traumatized. His body trembled as another sob escaped him. Bill immediately rushed over to his twin and pulled him in for a tight hug.

"You're okay, Will. Everything's fine."

"I-I want to go home, brother.." Will sniffed.

"We will. We'll go right now." Bill reassured him.

\--------------------------------------

It had taken a while to cheer Will up, but Bill finally managed to do so by wrapping him in a blanket with his favorite stuffed animal, playing another few episodes of Steven Universe and giving him a plate of his favorite peanut butter sandwiches that their dad had made, along with a juice box of orange juice and a chocolate chip cookie to go with it.

"Are you good now, Will?" Bill asked. 

"T-Thank you brother." Will nodded weakly before he sipped his juice.

Bill smiled in response and then looked at Dipper and Mabel. "Alright, now it's time for you two. I think it's about time you guys finally made up."

Dipper nodded and looked at his sister. "Mabel? I'm...I'm sorry I got so mad at you. I know you didn't mean it. I went overboard again."

"I'm sorry too Bro, bro." Mabel looked at the ground. "I really shouldn't have said something like that. I didn't even think of how you guys might feel about it. But I promise, from now on I'll be sure to think of your feelings."

"Thank you Mabes."  
"Awkward sibling hug?" Mabel asked, reaching her arms out with a soft smile.

"Awkward sibling hug." Dipper nodded and pulled his sister into a tight hug.

"Pat, pat." The two spoke up and patted each other on the back.

"D-Does this mean you guys made up?" Will sniffed from within his blanket.

"Yeah Will, we made up." Dipper said softly. This made Will smile.

"Then shall we get back to our hang out time?" Bill asked.

"Totally."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a drawing I drew of what Bill and Will's sweaters look like in this chapter: http://celestial-celestabell.tumblr.com/post/149536384337/also-found-on-my-deviantart-here

**Author's Note:**

> Bill will appear in the next chapter, don't worry!
> 
> So I'm not exactly sure how one treats a missing eye injury, so I kind of just guessed. If I'm wrong about any information regarding their condition, please let me know!


End file.
